The plight of women in Gaza is a humanitarian issue

During the ongoing genocide in Gaza, many writers and activists have taken to online spaces to highlight the devastating birth consequences that 50,000 pregnant Palestinian women are experiencing. But more people need to speak out.

The United Nations reports that more than 180 women in Gaza are giving birth every day. Some are enduring Caesarian sections with no anaesthesia, by cell phone light. Other women, lacking access to clean water, and hygiene products are resorting to taking medicine to delay their periods.

The stories and images that have been coming out of Gaza are devastating to witness, even from the privilege and comfort of our homes and phones. Enduring it personally, as Palestinians do now, would be unimaginable and horrific. And while war crimes unfold, Western governments continue to support the mass killings of civilians.

Nobody should be okay or comfortable living in a world where this kind of treatment is possible, and we should all try to stop it and demand our governmental leaders to call for a ceasefire.

Pregnant women in Gaza face a host of challenges. Some are dying and leaving behind premature newborns to survive in incubators. However, hospitals in Gaza no longer have the electricity or fuel to power these devices due to Israel’s cutting off power to Gaza and refusal to allow fuel imports.

Women give birth under the constant threat of death, loss, chaos, horrific sights of dead bodies, and bombings. They have little privacy to birth their babies, and do not have the nourishment required to grow a baby, create sufficient breast milk, and heal their bodies properly.

All of this suffering will lead to insurmountable mental health issues that will inevitably be left untreated. These mental health impacts will also increase their risk of not only postpartum disabilities, but also other chronic health disorders in the future.

Many of these women have never given birth before and have lost their entire families in death, losing much-needed generational guidance to support them in this process. Due to these profound pregnancy circumstances, many are experiencing miscarriages, going into premature labour, having placental abruptions, preeclampsia, stillbirths, pulmonary embolisms, haemorrhages, and many who become injured in bombings are even having to get amputations and various surgeries while they give birth. Others are forced to have hysterectomies because doctors have so few options to quickly save their lives.

There is so much about their birth experiences that will be hidden from the public, but what we know is that women and families are suffering immensely. This is just a glimpse at their birth and pregnancies. However, even more hidden, is the postpartum complications that many of them will endure. A postpartum mother experiencing severe trauma is at increased risk of vaginal/rectal lacerations from labour, pelvic floor pain/dysfunction/incontinence, back pain, abdominal hernias, pelvis/hip fractures, tailbone breaks, nerve damage, uterine haemorrhage, blood clots, postpartum eclampsia, increased risk of diabetes, dysautonomia, heart disorders, sepsis, and other infections.

They will also face complications with breastfeeding and bonding with their babies. Additionally, many of these women will require mobility aids/various products to deal with these long term health issues, but will not have access to them. And many of them will never fully heal from their disabilities.

“The situation is extremely horrible. There’s no humanity. There’s no humanity for people, for patients and for everyone,” Dr. Shireen Abed, a neonatal specialist in Gaza, recently told NBC News.

As a doula in the United States, postpartum complications that I see are most prevalent in my Black clients who have less access to resources, education, and aftercare. Even with all the privilege that Americans have, Black people still have the highest overall prenatal and postpartum complications and have the highest rates of maternal and foetal death due to the impacts of racism both in the medical system and on a cellular level of each patient.

Existing under a racist system can wear down a person’s body and make them more susceptible to medical complications. This circumstance must be even more extreme for women in Gaza, who have been living under occupation their entire lives and have little control over their own reproductive health and healing.

To even physically travel to a healthcare facility, Palestinian women face numerous Israeli checkpoints. In the past, this has resulted in births taking place at these checkpoints, and in some cases foetal or maternal death due to delays.

Because of life under occupation, many women in Gaza experience reproductive health issues. The rates of maternal mortality and complications have been rising for years. And some women face infertility, having to try for years to have their children, only for many of them to now lose their offspring to Israeli bombs.

Postpartum, mothers should be focused on healing, bonding with their babies, and making milk. Instead, most of them are mourning loved ones and children, experiencing starvation, dehydration, loss of postnatal medical care, no grief support, and are forced to flee the hospital or their homes that they gave birth in and walk for hours and hours to escape bombings and Israeli ground invasions.

This kind of physical exertion can make it more likely for these women to have long-lasting disabilities, if they survive this at all. Long walking, uneven terrain, lack of adequate shoes, no access to mobility aids, weakened core muscles, no rest, carrying a baby and heavy items long distances, and being in extreme pain is so much tremendous work for a freshly postpartum body.

During the first year postpartum, the risk of injury in even the most privileged places in the world is high. That risk is astronomically higher for the women of Gaza. During the early weeks, nourishment, rest, hydration, support, and proper sanitary conditions/products are needed for even the most basic level of healing.

Mothers, parents, birth workers, and doctors should be fiercely and loudly standing against the genocide globally. We are witnessing human rights violations daily and yet, many people say that this is too complicated of an issue to take “sides” with.

However, the only valid “side” to be on, is the one that states that women and families should be in control of their own land, their water, and their electricity. They should be safe from military bombardment and governmental occupations that threaten their lives, their health, economy, education, and their ability to birth, heal, and raise their children in safe and equitable environments.

Aside from a humanitarian one, the genocide in Gaza constitutes a major breach of women's rights too. It's a reproductive rights issue, and it is a disability rights issue that should move everyone who is witnessing it to stand with these families and demand an end to this siege in Gaza. A ceasefire, an end to the occupation, and global support to rebuild Gaza are the only answers to support the survivors of this genocide and their babies.