WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) joined Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Lois Frankel (FL-22) and Reps. Susan Wild (PA-7), Terri Sewell (AL-7), Lori Trahan (MA-3), Susie Lee (NV-3), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) to demand action on Rep. Wild’s Access to Family Building Act — legislation codifying Americans’ right to use IVF. Below is a transcript of her remarks:
“We all owe a debt of gratitude to Congresswoman Susan Wild who is leading the charge to defend every American’s right to start a family through fertility treatment, through IVF. And I’m so grateful to Chair Frankel and the Democratic Women’s Caucus for gathering us together. Thank you, my colleagues, for standing up to the GOP’s cruel assault on reproductive health and for answering their extremism with a bill that prioritizes freedom and family.
“This is an issue that unites House Democrats — but more importantly, it unites Americans. From Alabama to Massachusetts. In Nevada and Florida and Pennsylvania. Because the GOP’s assault on reproductive freedom isn’t limited to red states.
“This is a national threat to the health and freedom of women in every single zip code. In Boston as much as in Birmingham.
“This is Post-Roe America. This is the Republican dream realized into a waking nightmare. And it can still get worse from here. The GOP is telling us Dobbs was just the beginning.
“125 House Republicans sponsored a bill that would take the Alabama ruling nationwide. 195 House Republicans voted against legal contraception. And just yesterday — yesterday!— Republicans blocked the bill that Congresswoman Wild is sponsoring in the House from coming to the Floor of the Senate.
“At every turn, they're rolling back the right to abortion and birth control for as many people as they can. Their mission is clear. But so is ours.
“House Democrats will fight until reproductive freedom is, once again, the law of the land.
“And it’s my privilege to yield to a leader in that fight, a champion for liberty and justice, a Representative and advocate for these devastated Alabama families, my colleague: Congresswoman Terri Sewell.”
Photos of the event can be found HERE. The full event can be viewed HERE.