House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked an effort by a fellow Republican lawmaker that would have allowed women in Congress who just gave birth to vote by proxy—a way to let them recover from birth and bond with their child while also giving a voice to their constituents.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California introduced legislation in January that sought to allow members of the House who give birth to vote remotely for six weeks postpartum.
The bill has 34 co-sponsors, including some right-wing Republican men, such as Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and Tim Burchett of Tennessee.
But Luna said on Wednesday that Johnson told her he will not put her legislation up for a vote.
Writing on X, Luna responded:
I am not pregnant, however, we have women in congress who are being pressured into not having children as they are being told they cannot vote. This is, based on many conversations I have had with female members, and even some young fathers on both sides of the isle [sic].
This is not only anti-family, but is also a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of voters who send members to represent them in DC.
Female members should not be forced to choose between representing their constituents and having children. Until Congress embraces changes to reflect American's family values, we will not have true representation in Washington DC.
In 2023, Luna became just the 12th woman in American history to give birth while serving in Congress. After giving birth, she had complications that led her to miss dozens of House votes, CBS News reported.
It's unclear why Johnson wouldn't allow members of Congress who give birth to vote by proxy. He did not respond to a request for comment from Politico on the issue.
Johnson has boasted that he is a “pro-family” Republican. Yet his decision to not allow proxy voting after a member gives birth is a decidedly anti-family move.
Of course, there are far more Democratic women in Congress than Republicans. In the current House, there are 93 Democratic women and just 34 Republican women. And the one member of Congress who we know is currently pregnant, Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen, is a Democrat. Maybe Johnson thinks proxy voting would help Democrats more than Republicans.
Don’t worry, though. Johnson did announce on Wednesday that he will make sure only women assigned female at birth can use women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill—a policy that can seemingly be enforced only by forcing people to show their genitalia or submit to a blood test.
Ultimately, there is precedent for proxy voting.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats allowed members of Congress to vote by proxy. But Republicans, who hated the practice, ended proxy voting when they took back the majority in 2023.
Luna, for her part, said in September that she would not vote for a speaker who would block proxy voting for women who just gave birth.
“You can’t fake a pregnancy, and you are literally, sometimes medically, not able to travel after giving birth,” Luna told Bloomberg News. “If they want my vote, they have to allow women to vote,” she added of any potential speaker candidates.”
That could be a problem for Johnson, who will have one of the narrowest House majorities in history when the new Congress is sworn in come January.
Leave it to a Republican to make their life harder by screwing over women.
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