Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove advocates for reproductive rights in a post-Roe era

U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., is advocating for reproductive rights and ways to combat “reproductive oppression” following the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“While many of us are focusing on how to fix the Supreme Court and reverse the Dobbs decision, many young women are struggling to give birth because they’re homeless or living in shelters or they are being mistreated in hospitals,” she said.

“We have hospitals and clinics that are closing down in urban areas because providers are afraid of offering care,” she added.

On Wednesday, the Democratic lawmaker held a roundtable discussion in Los Angeles on reproductive rights with Celinda Vazquez of Planned Parenthood; Janette Robinson Flint, executive director of Black Women for Wellness; Karla Carrillo, a member of Young Parent Leadership Council; and Laura Jimenez, executive director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice.

“We need to continue to amplify and uplift what the needs are in health care,” Vazquez told theGrio.  

“The roundtable…was one way to do that,” she said. “We want to ensure that we’re listening, we’re investing, evolving, and supporting pregnant women.”

Kamlager-Dove told theGrio that during the event the women discussed several topics, including the need for funding health care providers.

She stated that if medical facilities and organizations are not financially backed to sustain the work that they’re doing, it will only “exacerbate maternal mortality rates that are already disastrously too high, especially for the Black community.”

During the conversation, Kamlager-Dove highlighted her bill, the Pregnant Women in Custody Act, which aims to stop the practice of shackling pregnant women and ensure that pregnant women “receive quality care” while behind bars.

“It’s important we remember that women who are pregnant and incarcerated” should…