Background: Victimization of women is encountered in all countries across the world, it damages the mental and physical health of women. During pregnancy and the postpartum period, women are at a greater risk of experiencing violence from an intimate partner. Birth outcomes in women who have been subjected to violence before and/or during pregnancy in Sweden is scarce.

Aims: The aim was to explore childbirth outcomes in a Swedish population of women reporting a history of violence including domestic violence during pregnancy.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort design was utilized. In total 1939 pregnant women ≥18 years were recruited to answer two questionnaires, during early and late pregnancy. The available dataset included birth records of 1694 mothers who gave birth between June 2012 and April 2014. Suitable analytical statistics were used.

Results: Of 1694 mothers 38.7% (n = 656) reported a history of violence and 2% (n = 34) also experienced domestic violence during pregnancy. Single women, living apart from their partner, were unemployed, had financial distress and were smokers were at a higher risk of experiencing violence (p = .001). They also had significant low scores on the SOC-scale and high EDS-scores ≥13 (p = .001) when compared with women without a history of violence (p = .001). Having a history of violence increased a woman's risk of having a caesarean section (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.02–1.70). Likewise, a history of emotional abuse significantly increased the risk of having a caesarean section irrespective of whether it was planned or an emergency caesarean section (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.09–2.06). Infants born to a mother who reported a history of violence, were at significant risk of being born premature <37 weeks of gestation compared with infants born by mothers with no history of violence (p = .049).

Conclusions: A history of violence and exclusively a history of emotional abuse has a negative impact on childbirth outcomes including caesarean section and premature birth. Therefore, early identification of a history of or ongoing violence is crucial to provide women with extra support which may have a positive impact on birth outcome.