Washington, DC — Tonight, Marco Rubio was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Trump’s secretary of state. Rubio has an extensive record of opposing and restricting global sexual and reproductive health and rights, including longtime support of the harmful global gag rule, an anti-abortion policy that denies certain kinds of foreign aid to overseas health centers unless they agree not to use their own, non-U.S. funds for abortion services, counseling, or even to take a public position in support of reproductive freedom. The first Trump administration greatly expanded the policy to apply to any organization receiving U.S. global health assistance and Project 2025 instructs the new administration to go even further.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Marco Rubio is a Trump loyalist picked for the job precisely because the president knows he can be counted on to do his bidding, including rolling back reproductive freedom. He has spent nearly 15 years in the Senate pushing his anti-abortion extremism, and he now has the power to insert it into our country’s foreign policy. Reproductive Freedom for All and our 4 million members stand at the ready to hold Rubio accountable for any attacks on reproductive health care and abortion access.”
Rubio has scored a 0% on Reproductive Freedom for All’s Congressional Scorecard every year that he has served in the Senate. He has also voted in favor of effectively defunding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations reproductive health agency.
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For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
