Kamlager-Dove Denounces Alabama Ruling, Republican Hypocrisy in Remarks at Democratic Women’s Caucus Press Conference on IVF Access

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Thursday, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) joined the Democratic Women’s Caucus for a press conference on IVF access. Below is a transcript of her remarks as delivered. 
 
To watch the press conference, click here. 
 
“As you can see, we are all fired up because this is incredibly personal. My name is Sydney Kamlager-Dove. I'm the Congresswoman for California's 37th congressional district, and truthfully, I did not expect to be here. But we're here. We're here because Alabama women need us. Because women across this country need us.  

“Women in Alabama, who were dreaming of having a family just got gut punched. Clarence Thomas said in his writings about the Dobbs decision that it was just the beginning—that contraception was next. Everything is next. These people are not about being "pro-life," or life giving—they are about life taking, they are about option taking.  

“IVF is the option you choose when every other option has failed you. I tried for years to conceive. I thought it would be easy—you just have sex. But my body didn't get that memo. And we tried for months and months and months and months... and eventually we leaned on IVF. It is the most painful—sometimes the most shameful—psychologically taxing, financially draining, anxiety producing, isolating journey you can ever take. You take a shot in your stomach, and with that, you're inserting a dream that this medicine will work. You put all of your faith in your doctor who is giving you as many options as they can to help you do the thing that everyone tells you that you’re born to do: to give birth. Now with the Alabama ruling, compounded by Dobbs, those doctors are going to be asking themselves if they will get a rap sheet just by trying to provide you those options.
 
“My journey ended with three stepchildren because the journey became too taxing emotionally and too financially prohibitive for me to continue. But here we are. Women stuck in the middle. On the one hand, folks who are making financial decisions about if it is the right time for them to conceive, are being criminalized. On the other hand, women who actually have the resources to try additional treatments are now being criminalized. What do they want from us? They want our bodies. They want to decide who can parent and who can birth—and it is not their decision to make! 

“Ye Republicans of forked tongue, who say ‘I support IVF treatment, but I support the Dobbs decision’—you cannot do both. You are either for women and our right to decide about our families, our lives, and our bodies, or you are against us. I'm here to tell you this Democratic Women's Caucus is coming for you. Every cynic, every liar, every hypocrite, every fraudster who's trying to fraud the American people into thinking that they care about women—we are coming for you and your lies. And we are coming for you and your decisions to take away our freedoms.  

“This is unsustainable. Why are you scaring young women who are interested in procreating and bringing life into this world that we are all trying to save from war, from climate, from devastation, from poverty? Why are you taking that chance to conceive away from them? Shame. Shame on you, shame on you, you liars—you Republican liars who do not care about women, who do not believe in science, who do not support doctors, and who do not care about choice. 

“That is why I am so grateful for Congresswoman Wild and her Access to Family Building Act. That is why I signed on. That is why, today, I shared the story that I have never shared before—because it is so important for people to know. We need to continue to have access to treatments like IVF so that women still have the opportunity to dream. 
 
“Thank you.”