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Not just anything would have been important enough for Rep. LaMonica McIver to board a train just hours after having surgery for uterine fibroids. But this vote was. 

One week ago, the New Jersey Democrat balanced her personal health with her determination to cast a vote against a bill to reopen the federal government that she said would make health care more expensive for her constituents. The bill passed the House largely along party lines, with McIver and most House Democrats opposing it.  

“That definitely wasn’t in my playbook. It should not have to be like this,” McIver said in an interview with The 19th. “But it’s very important for me to show up for the people that I represent, and that’s why I did it. I would do it over again, because that’s what the people elected me to do.”

McIver, a former Newark Municipal Council president, was elected in 2024 to New Jersey’s 10th District, a racially diverse and largely working-class North Jersey seat.  Her tenure in Congress so far has illustrated both the opportunities and risks of being a prominent Black woman leader in President Donald Trump’s second term. 

Her position has given her a platform to advocate for her constituents on issues such as health care and supporting small businesses. She also serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and has focused on immigration oversight and advocating for the rights of immigrants in her district — work that has put her in the administration’s crosshairs. After a visit with other elected officials to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in May turned contentious when federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, McIver was charged with assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with a federal agent. She has pleaded not guilty and has said the charges against her are baseless and “an attempt at political intimidation.”  

On the day House leadership scheduled a vote on the bill to end the 43-day government shutdown, McIver had a pre-planned myomectomy, a procedure to remove uterine fibroids, that she had already rescheduled twice and had taken medications to prepare for. 

Up to 80 percent of women develop uterine fibroids, noncancerous growths in the uterus, during their childbearing years, and many have few to no symptoms. But Black women are more likely to develop fibroids and to have severe symptoms requiring surgery, research has shown. 

McIver, 39, said she’s had four myomectomies for her fibroids since she was 25, which she described as an often “torturous” experience. One surgery left one of her fallopian tubes damaged, meaning that if she ever wanted to have more children, she would have to consider using in vitro fertilization treatment. 

“Someone like me who has had health care since I’ve had my first job, I’ve been able to treat my fibroids,” McIver said. “But at the same time, it’s like, why is this happening? Why does this continue to happen? Why do I have to continue to do this?”

McIver went in for her surgery first thing Wednesday morning, was out by noon and went home for a few hours to rest, telling her husband and her staff that she would travel down to make the vote if she felt well enough. That afternoon, she boarded a train to Washington, D.C., and that evening she cast a vote against the government funding bill. “It was so important for me to be there,” she said. 

The stopgap bill, a compromise negotiated by a group of centrist Democratic senators, did not extend the expiring subsidies for health care plans sold on the Affordable Care Act marketplace — the central demand of Democrats who initially withheld their votes to fund the government in October. 

“I just feel like we should have gotten more out of this situation where we could really deliver something to constituents that are, quite frankly, scared to death of not having health care,” McIver said. 

The cost of health care is a top concern for McIver’s constituents, she said, many of whom were calling her office last week with concerns about their health care premiums skyrocketing. As someone who just underwent a medical procedure and had to meet a deductible of more than $2,000 on her own health insurance plan, McIver said she acutely understands their worries. “I just think in the richest country in this world, we should not be having a discussion about who gets health care and who doesn’t,” she said. 

And with premium costs set to spike, McIver is concerned that many in her district will forgo health insurance altogether in order to pay their bills. 

“That really worries me,” she said. “Because for a community like mine, that means life or death for many people.” 

After casting her vote Wednesday evening, McIver turned around to go back to New Jersey for a follow-up appointment the next day with her doctor. 

“I needed to get back home to rest and make sure I was taking care of myself,” she said. “But that’s why I went. That’s just how important it is to me.”

In Trump’s second term, his administration has also cut federal funding for research focused on studying and improving treatments for health conditions, including fibroids, that disproportionately impact women. 

“This is why women’s health care, and health care in general, is so important,” McIver said. “Because people are out here dealing with these issues, and it’s like, who gives a damn? Not the president and the administration.”

McIver has been open about her experience with fibroids to make other women feel less alone. 

“I’m really big on protecting those that I represent and making sure that I’m serving them as best as I can, to the best of my ability,” McIver said. “At the same time, I just want women to know who are battling this, that there are a community of women going through the same thing, and there’s help out there, one way or another.”

The day after McIver’s surgery and the House vote, a federal judge issued a ruling in her criminal case. In a 41-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Jamel K. Semper rejected her motions to dismiss all three of the criminal charges against her on the grounds that she was selectively and vindictively prosecuted by the administration. Judge Semper also denied her motion to dismiss two of the three counts against her on the grounds that her actions were protected by legislative immunity under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution.  

“Although it is apparent that the court gave the motions thoughtful consideration, we believe the decisions are wrong,” McIver’s attorney, Paul J. Fishman, said in a statement Thursday. “It is clear this administration is treating Congresswoman McIver’s actions differently than the actions of those who are on their side. It is also clear that this prosecution is designed to chill the Congresswoman’s lawful authority to conduct oversight and hold the administration to account. We are currently evaluating next steps.”

On May 9, McIver and Reps. Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman, along with Baraka, visited Delaney Hall, a privately-owned immigration detention facility in Newark. Members of Congress are allowed to enter immigration facilities unannounced, but the visit turned tense and then tumultuous when agents threatened to arrest Baraka. A chaotic melee ensued among the federal agents and elected officials on the scene. Baraka was arrested for trespassing, though the charges against him were later dismissed by a judge.

The Trump administration has brought charges or levied accusations of impropriety against other prominent Black women who Trump views as political foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Even so, it’s historically rare for members of Congress to be federally prosecuted on non-corruption charges. A McIver spokesperson, Hanna Rumsey, said in a statement Thursday that the case against McIver is “not about one person.” 

“This is about how the administration is using criminal charges to go after political opponents who dare conduct oversight of their activities,” she said.

McIver said that she’s focused on elevating stories and voices of women, and advocating for expanded health care access.

“I hope we can get to a place in Congress — I pray, I pray, I pray every day — that we can actually do things and pass policies that make people’s lives better, and especially around health care, especially around women’s health care,” she said. “And I’m really looking forward to that.”