Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced Tuesday that she is expecting her second child, making her the first sitting member of the U.S. Senate, and just the tenth member of Congress, to give birth while in office.
Duckworth, six months along in her pregnancy, told the Chicago Sun Times she feels “great” about motherhood. The Iraq war veteran and double-amputee struggled with multiple failed in vitro fertilization cycles after the birth of her first child, Abigail — even suffering through a miscarriage in the middle of her 2016 campaign.
While women like Duckworth inevitably face questions about how they’ll juggle their career and the demands of parenthood — questions men in similar positions rarely face — Duckworth says she’s more than up to the task.
“Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic issue and an issue that affects all parents — men and women alike,” she said in a statement. “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent, and Abigail has only made me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere.”
The U.S. Senate currently has 22 female senators, a record number, but of the 51 total women who have served in the Senate, none of given birth while holding that position until now. Duckworth will join the ranks of other prominent female politicians to give birth in office, like Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
“I’m not a trailblazer. I am not the first woman to multitask. I am not the first woman to work and have a baby,” Ardern said during a press conference earlier this month. “New Zealand is going to help us raise our first child.”
Women make up half of the world’s population, so their representation in elected office is vital for shaping policy. A study completed by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University found that women were more likely to propose legislation that impacts children and mothers.
This appears to ring true for Duckworth who says being a mother has helped shaped her legislative agenda.
Duckworth told the Sun Times being the person “trying to pump breast milk in airports,” for instance, has encouraged her to advance policies that benefit other parents. “I have a better understanding in a way that I didn’t have.”
Since the birth of her first child, Duckworth has spearheaded measures to ensure major airports offer places for breastfeeding mothers to pump milk. Duckworth has also proposed childcare legislation mandating the military allow personnel time off to bond with their newborns in addition to making sure student parents have on-campus child care.