I stumbled upon this interesting article about the difficulties of senators being on maternity leave. In April, Senator Duckworth will be the first to give birth while holding a senator position. In this article, she expresses her concerns and how her job might be affected by it. Sen. Duckworth mentions that if she goes go on maternity leave, she won’t be able to sponsor any legislation and/or vote. She also explains that she cannot bring her child on the senate floor and cannot have her child with a staff member due to it being a conflict of interest. This leaves her not knowing what to do. She is currently trying to work out a deal with the Senate Leadership. Because she is potentially the first to tackle this kind of issue, she is hoping that this will bring change to Senate rules. I personally hope this will spark a conversation about maternity leave in general in the United States. I have heard about the difficulties around this issue. I believe I read something before that said the United States is one of the few countries to offer unpaid maternity leave.
-Haita Toure