--- description: Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth announced her pregnancy on Tuesday, making her the first member of Senate to give birth while in office. title: Tammy Duckworth Announces She's Pregnant. It Will Make Her the First Senator to Give Birth in Office image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted4529d6d219fd29/6988a0f7a988ca7ea56b8f3a/tammy-duckworth1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Congress](/tag/congress/) ## Congress Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Tammy Duckworth Announces She's Pregnant. It Will Make Her the First Senator to Give Birth in Office  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2018 9:51 PM CUT  Tammy Duckworth speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, on July 28, 2016. Tammy Duckworth speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, on July 28, 2016.Bill Clark—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2018 9:51 PM CUT [Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth](http://time.com/4580350/trauma-care-system/ "undefined") announced her pregnancy on Tuesday, which will make her the first member of Senate to give birth while in office. The 49-year-old will deliver her second daughter this spring, her office said. Her first daughter, Abigail, is 3 years old. “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. She thanked the hospitals at Northwestern and George Washington University for helping her and her husband in their “decades-long journey to complete our family.” [Duckworth was elected to the Senate](http://motto.time.com/4564151/election-2016-female-victories-senate/ "undefined") in November of 2016\. Only 10 women in U.S. history have given birth while serving in Congress, Duckworth’s office noted, highlighting the way in which it has impacted her policy agenda. “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 said Tuesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5115515/tammy-duckworth-pregnant-senate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5115515/tammy-duckworth-pregnant-senate/"},"headline":"Tammy Duckworth Announces She's Pregnant. It Will Make Her the First Senator to Give Birth in Office","datePublished":"2018-01-23T21:51:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:59:23.041Z","description":"10 women in U.S. history have given birth in Congress","url":"https://time.com/5115515/tammy-duckworth-pregnant-senate/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted4529d6d219fd29/6988a0f7a988ca7ea56b8f3a/tammy-duckworth1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted4529d6d219fd29/6988a0f7a988ca7ea56b8f3a/tammy-duckworth1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Democratic National Convention","caption":"2016 Democratic National Convention","creditText":"Bill Clark—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5115515/tammy-duckworth-pregnant-senate/","name":"Tammy Duckworth Announces She's Pregnant. It Will Make Her the First Senator to Give Birth in Office"}}]}] ```