Washington: Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat from Illinois, will become the first US senator to give birth while in that office when she delivers her second child this spring, she announced on Tuesday.
Duckworth, who gave birth to her daughter Abigail in November 2014 while serving in the House of Representatives, is already one of only 10 women who have given birth while serving in Congress.
Her colleague Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat from New York, gave birth to a son during her tenure as a US representative.
“Bryan and I are thrilled that our family is getting a little bit bigger, and Abigail is ecstatic to welcome her baby sister home this spring,” Duckworth said in a statement that referred to her husband and daughter. “We are all so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, and I want to thank the wonderful staff at both Northwestern Medicine and GW for everything they’ve done to help us in our decades-long journey to complete our family.”
Duckworth, 49, told The Chicago Sun-Times in an article published on Tuesday that she and her husband tried various fertilisation methods before Abigail was conceived through a form of in vitro fertilisation. She said she decided to run for the Senate while on maternity leave.
After Abigail’s caesarean birth, Duckworth told The Sun-Times, she had to wait 18 months to try again; she also said she had a miscarriage during her 2016 Senate campaign.
“I’ve had multiple IVF cycles and a miscarriage trying to conceive again, so we’re very grateful,” she told the newspaper.
A spokesman for Duckworth confirmed the details of The Sun-Times article to The New York Times.
After Abigail was born, Duckworth introduced legislation titled ‘Friendly Airports for Mothers Act’, which, she wrote in an opinion piece for Cosmopolitan, “would ensure that all large-and medium-size airports have accessible, safe, clean and convenient lactation rooms for travellers — at no extra cost for taxpayers or airports.” (It passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in June as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act and is awaiting full Senate consideration, the spokesman said.)
In its statement, Duckworth’s office said the senator’s experiences as a working mother allow her to bring an “important” and “underrepresented” perspective to Congress.
“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. “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.”
Duckworth’s announcement came less than a week after the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, said she and her partner were expecting a child.
On Saturday, Duckworth drew attention when she called President Donald Trump a “five-deferment draft dodger.”
In addition to being a wife, mother and a US senator, Duckworth is also a veteran of the Iraq War who lost both of her legs when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during a tour in 2004.
She entered the House in 2012 and then the Senate in 2016, where she is one of the 100-strong chamber’s 22 women.
Born in Thailand to a Thai mother and American father, she is the joint second Asian American woman to serve in the Senate, alongside Kamala Harris.
