On "Forbes Newsroom," Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) reacted to Senate Republicans blocking Democrats' IVF bill.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath, editor of Forbes Women. Today, Senate Republicans
00:08blocked legislation that would have protected IVF access in the United States. Here to explain
00:15exactly what happened is Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove. She represents the 37th District
00:21of California. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. I want to start by asking,
00:26there are essentially two bills that the Senate was considering, one from the Democrats,
00:31one from the Republicans, both which would have protected IVF. What's the difference
00:35between these two bills?
00:38Well, unfortunately, the one that's from the Democrats is not moving, which is also a bill
00:47that doesn't contain any poison pills, unlike the Republican version, which is also, I think,
00:57very vague because Republicans like to say that they support access to IVF, but then
01:04the language that they use really will not allow that kind of protection to be codified.
01:12They are still holding on to definitions that say, life begins right at the moment
01:20of conception, which becomes very challenging for women who are trying to access either
01:25reproductive rights, abortion rights, or fertility treatment. I'm not surprised about what happened
01:35today on the Senate side. Republicans probably were listening to the Southern Baptists, which
01:42just came out and said that they condemn IVF, and they are continuing to listen, I
01:49think, to their presumptive Republican candidate, who has also been very wishy-washy on IVF
01:56and was the architect behind the Dobbs decision. Democrats in the House have a bill that would
02:03codify protection of IVF and other fertility treatments. And so our hope is that this bill
02:13can be taken up. I think currently there are 174 co-sponsors, including actually four Republicans,
02:20so it is bipartisan. And so it would be great if the speaker would exert some constitution
02:26and listen to 84% of Americans and allow this bill to be voted on.
02:32You referenced the broad popularity for IVF protection, and I therefore wanted to ask
02:38you, why did this bill fail if, technically speaking, both Republicans and Democrats agree
02:44that we should be protecting IVF? Is it all on the margins, and is there room for compromise
02:49here?
02:50I think there's always room for compromise. I mean, the American people, every single
02:55day, you know, in their living rooms, at their kitchen tables, in the boardrooms, are figuring
03:02out ways to compromise. So I don't understand why Republicans are not willing to come to
03:06the table with Democrats and find some common ground. As I mentioned, the majority of Americans
03:12support access to abortion care and also access to fertility treatment care. I think in the
03:19quiet rooms, Republicans recognize that this has truly become a bread-and-butter issue.
03:25It is about freedom and the ability to make a choice. And families across ideological
03:32spectrums have all had to consider or try to access fertility treatments, including
03:38IVF.
03:39I do believe that there is a fringe, extreme portion of the Republican Party, the MAGA
03:48states, which have and are continuing to hold this issue hostage. Evangelicals worked
03:56with President Trump to become sort of the architect of the Dobbs decision and the unraveling
04:03of Roe v. Wade. The door was left open with the Dobbs decision to consider contraception.
04:09And they are hungry, they are ravenous to continue to find more ways to deny women these
04:16rights. And I just believe that, you know, too many Republicans are unwilling to stand
04:21up to this draconian narrative that is being forced on women and say fertility treatment
04:29at the very least, just like contraception should be made available to all women.
04:37Now you say that the fringe right is ravenous to claw back women's rights, reproductive
04:42rights. And the IVF issue really burst onto the scene. You've heard advocates kind of
04:48warning that this would happen ever since Dobbs was overturned. But we saw what happened
04:52in Alabama earlier this year. The Supreme Court of Alabama came out with that ruling
04:58that would have curtailed IVF access. The state did eventually protect IVF access. So
05:05I'm wondering, Congresswoman, how under threat is fertility treatment in the U.S. if a state
05:11like Alabama can even come forward and say, we're going to protect this?
05:15Well, remember, the Supreme Court and Justice Thomas did say with the Dobbs decision, this
05:23is just the beginning. And we are very interested in looking at contraception. I'm thankful
05:29that today's ruling on or the recent ruling with MIFA-Pristone was upheld. But to your
05:37point, what happened in Alabama, I think, is a roadmap for a number of red states in
05:44particular to follow. And so, you know, we know as for IVF, some clinics in Alabama temporarily
05:53restarted IVF services in the wake of the Alabama law. But we also know that that won't
05:59be permanent. And so I think just recently a hospital in Mobile, Alabama has already
06:04announced that they are going to halt IVF services until the end of 2024 due to legal
06:10risks. So what we are seeing is that fertility treatment clinics and providers are thinking
06:17about liability and legal risks before they're actually taking into account the needs of
06:22their patients and what their patients want because of A, the Alabama ruling, and B, what
06:28came down from the Supreme Court.
06:32We hear that all the time about, you know, how people are wondering, should I go to this
06:38state or should I cross state lines? So let's talk about your legislation. How likely do
06:43you think it will be to pass and become law before the election? I know reproductive rights
06:49have become such a hot topic when it comes to the 2024 election. Can we hope to see legislation
06:56signed into law before November?
06:59Well, I'm an eternal optimist. I'm also a co-sponsor of the bill, the Access to Family
07:05Building Act, which would protect IVF and other fertility treatment services and also
07:12bring some clarity to what happens with eggs and what happens to sperm and what happens
07:17when you're trying to, you know, have them and then maybe harvest them and freeze them
07:22and keep them because that's where a lot of the legal nuance is happening.
07:28I am an optimist, but I really question whether or not this speaker, you know, has the constitution
07:35and the spine to bring this up. So my hope is that Democrats will win the House in 2024
07:42and take the majority back and then we are able to bring it up. But until then, we are
07:47going to continue to talk about it and we are going to continue to both encourage and
07:52shame Republicans into joining onto this bill and asking the speaker to bring it up.
08:00Because remember, there are Republicans that are saying, I support IVF and yet they refuse
08:05to sign on to this bill and they refuse to have it come up for a vote. So that is to
08:11me an example of folks speaking with forked tongues. And so I'm always about showing the
08:16receipts. So if you care about IVF and if you care about women, then co-sponsor this
08:20piece of legislation and work to bring it up on the floor.
08:23I asked earlier about compromise. Are there any items in your bill that you'd be willing
08:28to take out in order to get more Republicans to the table?
08:32No, because it is a bare bones bill that really just focuses on the basics. We don't have
08:39any poison pills in there. It's not talking about abortion. And in my mind, those would
08:45be third rail issues for many Republicans that would prevent it from coming to the floor.
08:51So we are strictly talking about IVF and access to fertility treatments. Remember Donald Trump
08:57supposedly said he supports IVF. Remember speaker Johnson supposedly said he supports
09:03access to IVF and other fertility treatments. And that's all the bill says. So if that's
09:07what you purport to care for, then this bill is the compromise because it's only talking
09:13about those issues.
09:15You say they purport to care, but we also, you referenced the Southern Baptist Convention
09:19and their vote on IVF. And I know you participated in a press conference today talking about
09:23the importance of IVF. Was that timing coincidental or was that meant to be in response to the
09:29Southern Baptist vote?
09:32A little bit of both. I think it is important that we continue to talk about this issue
09:37and also show the hypocrisy, expose the hypocrisy of this Republican party, the extremists within
09:44the Republican party and what the American people want. I think it is so strange that
09:50the Southern Baptists voted to condemn IVF while they also talked about folks in their
09:56membership, part of their congregation who used IVF to help them conceive. So, I mean,
10:02I don't know what the biblical term is for hypocrite, but it seems that seems to be a
10:07really great example of what that means and what it looks like.
10:11Congresswoman, there's been a lot of debate today. Any final words on the matter of IVF
10:16access in America in 2024?
10:18You know, France recently actually passed a constitutional amendment protecting a woman's
10:24right to have abortion. There are a number of countries that are also standing up and
10:29saying IVF fertility treatment, abortion access is incredibly important. I wish the United
10:34States would continue to lead in this space rather than falling far behind because there
10:38are so many families who are putting the hope of having a family, expanding a family
10:44on hold, who are pausing that dream because of these kinds of rulings. And we have to
10:50push back on that.
10:51Congresswoman, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate you joining
10:55us.
10:56Thank you.