A group of thirty mothers were seeking shelter in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, as the slaughter began. Several had recently given birth, while others were actively in labor.
Present at the hospital after dark, a 28-year-old lab technician, Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, managed to survive the ordeal. “There were cries of women and children,” he explains. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. We who were able to escape, did so.”
This brutal attack stands as one of the most shocking examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Militiamen forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 individuals receiving care and their families.
Rights organizations have labeled it “a crime beyond words,” and a stark illustration of the vanishing safeguards for civilians caught in conflict zones in multiple global hotspots.
An Unprecedented Assault On Childbirth Services
While all major powers have signed the Geneva conventions, which obligate them to protect civilians, the past year has seen a record number of violence targeting health services. Women undergoing childbirth are particularly at risk due to their reliance on locally available medical care.
Data analysis and investigations reveal an alarming level of violence: nearly 300 attacks on and disruptions to maternity care facilities, staff, and pregnant women over the last three years, including at least 119 bombardments of hospitals and delivery wards.
“These incidents do not represent standard wartime hazards. They form a deliberate strategy of violence against reproduction.”
The majority of these assaults have occurred in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of women bearing children are confined.
Women have been killed, prevented from accessing care, or forced to give birth in deplorable situations. The data also indicates that at least 68 maternal health workers have been murdered, 15 taken hostage, and 101 taken into custody—sometimes during medical procedures.
A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns
These figures likely represent a substantial underreporting, as they capture solely incidents covered by the media. In many areas of fighting, communications are sparse.
Last year, it was reported that one in two mothers who died during pregnancy or childbirth resided in a war zone. This underscores a horrifying trend.
Apart from fatalities, these attacks are obliterating hospitals and wards, posing a long-term threat to societal repopulation and recovery.
The Situation in Gaza
In Gaza, the devastating effect on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as part of the basis for genocide allegations.
Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children succumb from a lack of proper treatment, owing to severe deficits of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women giving birth in rubble because hospitals were inaccessible.
“We’ve had rockets hitting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” says the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has contested deliberately targeting maternity care or trying to alter birthrates.
Ukraine's Ordeal
Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births taking place in basements and skyrocketing stress leading to birth complications.
“The attacks on us are intentional,” claims the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Russian authorities have denied deliberately targeting civilians.
“In fact, every facility can be under attack now,” states a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, the falling debris may hit a hospital.”
Accountability Evaporates
For the hundreds of millions of women living within range of fighting, there are minimal protections and a stark lack of legal accountability for those assaulting reproductive health.
This absence of consequences has created a “culture of impunity,” says a human rights lawyer. “Assaults against maternal services, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, are potentially acts of genocide by preventing births.”
Additional Hotspots
In El Fasher, the area was isolated from humanitarian aid long before the hospital attack, with malnutrition rising sharply, especially among children and pregnant women.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, information is scarce because of a inability to report from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma struck a baby care unit, causing fatalities among patients and staff.
In Myanmar, clinics have been attacked and dozens of midwives and patients have faced detention, death, or harm over the past two years of civil war.
The End of Safe Deliveries
A large proportion of mother deaths are avoidable with standard medicine, but war collapses medical infrastructure. Rights groups note that fear is now driving women away from facilities once considered safe, pushing them toward risky home births without skilled assistance.
“If maternity hospitals are being deliberately targeted points toward a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of violence against hospitals as a tool for terror and to tear apart the social fabric,” notes a legal researcher.
“There is no absolute protection for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities may forfeit their immunity if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”
