Ocasio-Cortez, Williams Demand Reversal of Department of State’s Threat to Reproductive Freedoms Across the Globe

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) led 73 congressional colleagues in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urgently calling for the reversal of guidance issued in November to U.S. embassy personnel worldwide that directs them to recast human rights protections as human rights abuses.

This abdication of responsibility to accurately report on global human rights conditions was further compounded by the President’s decision to withdraw the United States from 66 international organizations in January 2026.

By mandating biased reporting in support of the current Administration’s ideological priorities, the State Department’s guidance undermines the credibility of its human rights reports, contradicts the intent of U.S. law requiring reporting on “internationally recognized human rights law,” and weakens U.S. leadership in advancing universal human rights standards worldwide.

The members wrote:

“The State Department incorrectly suggests that public funding for and provision of abortion is a human rights violation and evidence of ‘coercion in population control.’ This could not be further from the truth. International human rights law unequivocally prohibits coercing an individual's reproductive decisions including forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced pregnancy.”

“Government programs supporting abortion care, as well as prenatal and maternal care, advance rather than violate human rights."

“These attempts are a deliberate effort to erase decades of global development of universal human rights standards and impose on the world an extremist, exclusionary agenda led by a few ideological elites that targets women, LGBTQIA+ people, and communities of color at home and abroad.”

“This guidance comes at a time when the State Department is also boycotting the United States’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an essential process through which the human rights records of all 193 United Nations member states are regularly reviewed by other UN members. The UPR is among the most important and widely replied upon global tools for evaluating human rights situations in specific countries. Taken together, the boycott of the UPR and the new embassy guidance reflects a broader retreat from our human rights obligations and the global mechanisms of accountability that cannot be ignored.”

“Multi-lateral engagement cannot be pursued unilaterally. To comply with congressional mandates and international human rights obligations, the State Department must rescind the November guidance and issue new guidance to ensure faithful reporting on human rights conditions and violations as defined by international law.”

The letter was cosigned by: Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Rep. Becca Balint, Rep. Joyce Beatty, Rep. Wesley Bell, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, Rep. Julia Brownley, Rep. Shontel Brown, Rep. André Carson, Rep. Sean Casten, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Gilbert Cisneros, Rep. Yvette Clarke, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Angie Craig, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Rep. Sharice Davids, Rep. Madeleine Dean, Rep. Diana DeGette, Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, Rep. Maxine Dexter, Rep. Sarah Elfreth, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Rep. Valerie Foushee, Rep. Laura Friedman, Rep. Maxwell Frost, Rep. Jesús García, Rep. Robert Garcia, Rep. Daniel Goldman, Rep. Adelita Grijalva, Rep. Jahana Hayes, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Julie Johnson, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Rep. George Latimer, Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Ted Lieu, Rep. Doris Matsui, Rep. Sarah McBride, Rep. April McClain Delaney, Rep. Betty McCollum, Rep. James McGovern, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Rep. Grace Meng, Rep. Gwen Moore, Rep. Joseph Morelle, Rep. Kelly Morrison, Rep. Seth Moulton, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Brittany Pettersen, Rep. Chellie Pingree, Rep. Mark Pocan, Rep. Delia Ramirez, Rep. Emily Randall, Rep. Deborah Ross, Rep. Andrea Salinas, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Rep. Janice Schakowsky, Rep. Lateefah Simon, Rep. Darren Soto, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Rep. Haley Stevens, Rep. Dina Titus, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ritchie Torres, Rep. Lori Trahan, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, and Rep. James Walkinshaw.

Read the full letter here.