Pregnant women in Gaza 'frightened' as dangers around childbirth grow

That is all utterly utterly horrific.

Not much change then when Trump sends in his people to build the Gazan Riviera.

Those seeking abortion might get a better deal at Israéli hospitals. Might. Possibly.

I'm not sure how much choice women have in conceiving during the last two years. While it's tempting to think "who aims to get pregnant in a war zone" lots of women. Even in peace time marital rape is not a crime. There is also often a desire for sex as a bonding experience if your survive a disaster or traumatic situation. So women may not have consented to sex or pregnancy and those who did consent to sex may not have considered the possibility of pregnancy especially under stress which might affect their menstrual cycle as well as being malnourished. Abortions are also illegal on Gaza unless to save the woman's life and I doubt it's easy to obtain a illicit one right now even if women could before Israel's invasion . Contraceptives also required a husband's consent when such clinics were running and this was sometimes enforced by a woman's mother in law accompanying her to the clinical appointment
shado-mag.com/articles/act/the-weaponisation-of-reproductive-injustice-in-palestine/

I feel deeply sorry for any woman who is pregnant or recently delivered who is facing bombing or unable to access medical care. It's a war not of their making and they and their babies are paying the highest prices

I was thinking more of condoms. But obviously that relies on the men in a highly patriarchal society to use them.

Other reasons

Rape
Maybe in situations like this the urge to reproduce to maintain the population intensifies.

It's appalling from every angle. The young Jewish women raped, kidnapped and desecrated and this awful situation too.

I don't think any medication including contraception is available since the blockade commenced? British medics have stated that no new medicine etc has come in and they're using whatever is left. I would assume this include contraception.
Also a lot of hormonal contraception relies on no tummy upsets and given that a lot of water in Gaza is contaminated I'd say tummy upsets are common.
I saw an Instagram post from a US/Tanzanian nurse who said that sanitary protection is impossible to find now, some are reduced to reusing rags which they must wash in contaminated water leading to an upsurge in horrendous UTIs and there is a shortage of suitable antibiotics.

God help those women.

It's very strange.

As is the attempt to make it seem wrong to even mention October 7th because apparently that is to be mocked as a "But Hamas..." predictable trope.

Some context - as far as I can tell a premature birth rate of around 10% is consistent with the global average. In many parts of south Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa the rate is around 12-16%. Any impacts of maternal and infant health in wars are of course awful and nobody is denying that.

Its mind blowing.

Very true.

Very poor countries or countries with conflict appear to have high birth rates.

The cognitive dissonance about the instigator of this war (Hamas) is quite a thing to behold isn’t it?

They keep on going on about 1948 but seem to conveniently forget 2023.

That Hamas is still holding hostages is a fact. That they have not disarmed and surrendered is a fact. That they have hoarded and sold aid in the past is a fact, though we don't know the extent of it recently as far as I can tell.

You STILL believe all of that? Really?

Happening to women in Sudan too. Men start wars, women and children suffer.

msf.org.uk/article/sudan-crisis-facing-pregnant-women-conflict-hit-darfur#:~:text=The%20ongoing%20war%20in%20Sudan,access%20food%20and%20clean%20water.

I literally apologised! then you came back with a smart ass dictionary comment. Maybe you didn't think my apology was genuine, it was.

My problem is that you misread what I said. Your tone suggests it was deliberate, or at least unapologetic.

Interesting, I guess the age of your average gazan mum is probably younger than your average british mum though. I’m glad the babies are on the whole being born ok.

I read once there is an upsurge in births after natural disasters as well. I assume that sex is one of the few joys available in tough times. I really hope people are being offered contraception in aid packages though. I dread to think of some of the conditions which would maybe have to be left untreated like pre-eclampsia etc.

What's your problem?

Yes many, many times it is a core part of the argument that much (not all) of the criticism of Israel is driven not by genuine concern for human rights of all people, but by antisemitic desire to demonise Israel.
This seems pretty clear to me no dictionary needed thanks.

7.9% of babies are premature in the UK, and 2.9% are low birth weight (at full term).

ie. about 1 in 10 babies in the UK are either premature or low birth weight. The same as they are saying in the OP.

After a smooth vaginal birth, women go home after about 6 hours here too (and I went home after a C-section after less than 24 hours)

And have a dictionary to hand too.

Apologies so it's not your argument but an argument that gets made?

Please go back and read what I actially said, not what you want to see.

Ah there we go. Israeli government are doing a good job of demonising themselves. Maybe it's hard to comprehend that people care about other people and don't like seeing them killed, starved, displaced maimed. It is NOT antisemitic to criticise the Israeli government

much (not all)
Much? Suggests majority. Are Palestinians that worthless that people's only concern for them is driven by antisemitism?

Yes many, many times it is a core part of the argument that much (not all) of the criticism of Israel is driven not by genuine concern for human rights of all people, but by antisemitic desire to demonise Israel.

Again, the need to exceptionalise this conflict is not very helpful
I think it is very important to exceptionalise this conflict when there are so many trying to minimise, deny and lie about what's happening

Again? Have you said this before?

Its worth noting that its avery common phenomenon for the birth rate to go up in war time. This is quite universal though the drivers vary. The poor position of women in gazan society and the ideological imperative to have lots of children are probably important here.

Women also always bear the brunt of war in particularly awful ways. Again, the need to exceptionalise this conflict is not very helpful.

Tbh not to sound unempathetic but how are people deciding to have kids in a war zone, it must be terrifying. I can’t imagine the fear if you were pregnant or with a newborn. I assume they didn’t get much say in the matter.

Good news though that only 10% of babies are born underweight or premature given that healthcare is going to be non-existent.

Hamas need to quit it and also stop hoarding bloody aid. I saw a video of a Palestinian man collecting aid from the americans and he couldn’t believe it was free, he asked something like 5 times, it was so sad, sad that he was standing in rubble, sad that he couldn’t believe that there was free food, this stuff was supposed to be free all along. Those fuckers have been selling it, it’s not surprising that those with little money are starving.