Amy Klobuchar Entered Politics After Being Kicked Out of A Hospital With a Newborn

 

Amy Klobuchar didn’t plan to be in politics until her baby got sick.

“I was a brand new mom with a really sick baby,” the 2020 presidential candidate explained. “Back then the insurance companies had a rule that you could only stay in the hospital for 24 hours. And she was in intensive care and I had been up all night not knowing what was wrong. And they kicked me out of the hospital.”

Klobuchar and her husband nursed their daughter back to health over two years, and during that time, she joined with other parents to testify to pass one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay. She helped pave the way for a national law protecting new mothers’ rights after giving birth.

Klobuchar joked that she learned a lot about getting the measure passed, like how talking about embarrassing subjects like episiotomies. She says the idea that politics is about improving people’s lives is what got her involved in them.

“That’s what I learned from that experience and that’s what I’ve taken to Washington,” she said.

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