In January, Swank said on the James Corden Show that pregnancy brought her a number of realizations about her body. “I feel like women are superheroes,” she said, specifying she was then at the 27-week mark. “What our bodies do—I have such, like, a whole newfound respect. I mean, I love women, I’ve always loved women, but now, I’m like, ‘Wow, we can do this!’”

As I wrote last fall when the actor announced her pregnancy, I couldn’t be happier for her: Swank has spoken openly about wanting kids since 2006. For so many women and people with uteruses, infertility challenges can be heartbreaking and even traumatic. It’s been heartening to watch Swank’s pregnancy journey, as she’s joined growing numbers of people who are starting families, becoming pregnant, and giving birth later in life.

After all, we live at a time in which young women are increasingly being targeted with invasive egg-freezing ads across their social media feeds, imploring us to get started on the process right-fucking-now with our biological clocks ticking. Swank’s story is a reminder that everyone should be able to plan and build their family on their own timeline and have access to all the resources they need to do so.

Truly, at one of the bleakest moments in time for the rights of pregnant people, as our lawmakers do essentially everything they can to make pregnancy as dangerous and disempowering as possible, I’ve admittedly found some comfort in Swank’s story. It’s a reminder that pregnancy and parenthood should be a joyful, chosen experience at any time in life—not a dehumanizing state mandate.

So congrats to Swank, of course, and may her story bring some warmth and joy to anyone considering starting a family a little later in life.