CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth has announced that she’s pregnant with her second child. She will be the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office.
The Illinois Democrat says she will give birth to her second daughter this spring. It will make her the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office.
In a statement Tuesday, Duckworth said she and her husband, Bryan, are thrilled their family is getting a little bit bigger. She also says her daughter, Abigail, “is ecstatic to welcome her baby sister home this spring.”
Her colleague, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said he couldn’t be happier for Duckworth.
Duckworth lost her legs and shattered her right arm when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq on Nov. 12, 2004.
Duckworth became a member of Congress when she won the Illinois’ 8th Congressional District seat in November 2012. She became a U.S. senator in January 2017.
Duckworth gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2014. The senator will be one of only 10 lawmakers who have given birth while in Congress.
Duckworth says, “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a Senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent.”
She adds that her first daughter, Abigail, “has only made me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere.”
