Sen. Tammy Duckworth is pregnant; would be first senator to give birth in office

Sen. Tammy Duckworth will make history when she becomes the first sitting senator in history to give birth later this year, her office said Tuesday.

The Illinois Democrat announced she is expecting her second child in the spring.

“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,” 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.”

She is one of only 10 women who have given birth while serving in Congress. Her office told CNN she is due in late April.

The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the news of Duckworth’s pregnancy.

Duckworth is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was a helicopter pilot in the Iraq War. She was the first female double amputee from the war after suffering severe combat wounds when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. After retiring from the Army, she was elected to Congress in 2013.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin congratulated Duckworth in a statement, calling her “one of the most extraordinary people I would ever meet.”

“When she told me several weeks ago that she and Bryan were expecting a new baby to join their little Abigail, I was speechless,” Durbin, also of Illinois, said in a statement. “I couldn’t be happier for her.”

She made news Saturday for slamming President Donald Trump as a “five-deferment draft dodger” during her remarks on the Senate floor during the shutdown.

“I spent my entire adult life looking out for the well-being, the training, the equipping of the troops for whom I was responsible. I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger,” Duckworth said at the time.

CNN’s Caroline Kenny and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.