Responding to prenatal disclosure of past sexual abuse

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that physicians elicit a sexual abuse and rape trauma history for every patient, yet, in practice, physicians still may struggle to understand how best to obtain this history and what clinical obligations arise when a physician inquires and a woman discloses a remote history of childhood or adult sexual trauma during the course of her prenatal care. This commentary offers a practical strategy for responding to sexual trauma disclosure by developing a tailored obstetric care plan for avoiding retraumatization in labor. In this way, obstetricians may avoid causing harm and begin to meet the unique obstetric and psychological needs of sexual trauma survivors during pregnancy and delivery.