Tammy Duckworth Becomes First U.S. Senator To Give Birth While In Office 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Alex Brandon/AP 
 
 Sen. Tammy Duckworth has just blazed one more trail: She's the first U.S. Senator to give birth while in office. 
 
 With the arrival of a baby girl named Maile, Duckworth becomes one of just 10 women to give birth while serving in Congress. Duckworth, 50, had her first child in 2014, while she was a member of the House of Representatives. The senator lost both of her legs in the Iraq War. 
 
 "Parenthood isn't just a women's issue, it's an economic issue and one that affects all parents — men and women alike," Duckworth said in a statement announcing the birth. "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 my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere." 
 
 The Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet notes that since the Illinois Democrat had her first daughter Abigail, 
 
 "Duckworth has authored measures to make sure major airports offer places for breastfeeding mothers to pump milk; the military creates a uniform policy for giving personnel time to bond with their newborn and adopted babies; and to make sure student parents have on-campus child care. "She also is a sponsor or co-sponsor of bills dealing with affordable child care, paid parental leave and other infant and maternal health issues." 
 
 As NPR's Scott Neuman wrote in January when Duckworth announced her pregnancy, the senator was "[b]orn in Thailand to an American father and Thai mother, Duckworth served in the Illinois Army National Guard for more than two decades and had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel by the time of her 2014 retirement. She lost her legs in Iraq in 2004 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting." 

 “Bryan, Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement Monday. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Sen. Duckworth gives birth to daughter 
 
 Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) delivered her second daughter on Monday — making history as the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. 
 
 Duckworth named her daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, after her husband Bryan Bowlsbey’s great aunt, who was an army officer and a nurse who served during World War II, the senator said in a statement. The Illinois senator has one other daughter, Abigail. 
 
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 “Bryan, Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family,” Duckworth said in the statement. 
 
 “We’re also so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, as well as our wonderful medical teams for everything they’ve done to help us in our decades-long journey to complete our family,” she continued. 
 
 Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2016, Duckworth served two terms in the House of Representatives. 
 
 Duckworth, 50, served in the Illinois and U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs, and retired from the Army in 2014 as a lieutenant colonel. While serving in Iraq in 2004 as a helicopter pilot, she lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm when her aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. 
 
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 Duckworth also noted in her statement that being a working mother has led her to advocate on behalf of working families. 
 
 “Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic issue and one that affects all parents — men and women alike,” she said in the 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 my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere.” 
 

– Tammy Duckworth gave birth to a girl, Maile, Monday, making her the first US senator to deliver a baby while in office, NPR reports. Duckworth, 50, who lost both her legs in the Iraq war and now represents Illinois, had her first daughter Abigail in 2014 while she was serving in the House of Representatives. Maile Pearl Bowlsbey was named in honor of her father's great-aunt Pearl, an army officer and nurse who served in World War II, Politico reports, citing a statement from Duckworth.