Emily Erroa, eight months pregnant, learned she was being fired from her job at the Department of Energy. The news left her feeling so stressed that she ended up in the hospital, fearing for her unborn child’s health. “They kept calling me, saying I was fired, then reversing it, then confirming I was fired again,” Erroa told NBC News. The constant communication and confusion during off-hours caused significant emotional strain.
A 38-year-old Army veteran and reservist, Erroa was living in Texas but had to relocate to Kansas City, Missouri, to be closer to family. “It’s not like I could just say, ‘Oh, I’ll get another job.’ I’m visibly pregnant. No one would hire me, and I would need time off,” she explained. Her baby is due on April 17.
Erroa’s situation is part of a larger pattern as thousands of federal employees have lost their jobs recently due to government efficiency efforts championed by President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk. For pregnant women like Erroa, the challenges are even more complicated.
NBC News interviewed several pregnant federal workers, both domestic and international, who had been fired. They expressed deep concerns about finding new employment while staying insured and needing prenatal care, along with the emotional toll the stress could have on their pregnancies.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields defended the layoffs, stating that President Trump’s actions are part of a necessary push to eliminate waste in government. “This is a difficult but necessary task for future generations,” Fields said in a statement.
Anna Conn, 35, from Asheville, North Carolina, was also fired while eight months pregnant from her job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She’s now facing the looming expiration of her government health insurance before her due date. Conn has struggled to transfer her coverage to her husband’s plan, complicated by her additional health needs due to being an above-the-knee amputee.
“The federal government hadn’t provided the necessary documents for the switch,” Conn said. Her firing also came with a mass termination notice citing poor performance, despite Conn’s excellent reviews. Applying for unemployment is now a challenge, as she must search for jobs each week to qualify for benefits—something she doubts is feasible with a newborn.
In Eugene, Oregon, 32-year-old Gracie Lynn was fired from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. At six months pregnant, Lynn had been seeing a maternal fetal specialist due to concerns about her baby’s heart. She was immediately worried about the costs of additional medical bills, and it took the federal government two weeks to provide her with the paperwork needed to apply for temporary health insurance coverage.
“I was very stressed. I had doctor’s appointments coming up, and I had no idea how I’d be covered,” Lynn said.
Another woman, known only as Emily, had worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. for years, saving paid time off to extend her maternity leave. At 11 weeks pregnant, she was told her contract would end in just 15 days. The timing was devastating, as she had planned to take five months of leave after giving birth. While her contract was briefly extended by six weeks, she’ll lose half of her accrued time off.
Natasha Weinstein, 38, faced a similar situation while pregnant at USAID. While on an international vacation, Weinstein received a text that she and other workers had been locked out of their building. Two weeks later, at 21 weeks pregnant, she was informed her contract was terminated. Despite advice from colleagues not to return, Weinstein retrieved her personal belongings, including photos and her work shoes, from the office.
“We lost our jobs, but they’re not taking our shoes,” Weinstein joked, referring to a group chat created during the ordeal.
Weinstein expressed frustration with the mass email informing her of her termination, which didn’t even include her name. “It’s been financially challenging, and the stress is terrifying,” she admitted, recalling a previous loss of a pregnancy in the third trimester.
Another USAID employee, who asked to remain anonymous, was fired at 29 weeks pregnant while stationed abroad. Because of her location, she won’t qualify for U.S. unemployment benefits or family leave. The loss of income has placed a heavy burden on her family’s finances, as her husband cannot take unpaid leave either.
“After the baby is born, I won’t be applying for jobs until August at the earliest,” she said. “The soonest I could get a new job is October or November. That means nine months to a year of no income.”
For these women, the struggle to balance health concerns, job loss, and financial insecurity has become an overwhelming burden.
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