Activists will gather outside the European Parliament on Thursday as the Freeda Europe Tour reaches Brussels,
They are set to bring with them a 20-foot-tall model of an intrauterine device (IUD) designed to spotlight growing threats to sexual and reproductive health and rights across Europe and beyond.
The installation, known as Freeda Womb, is travelling through five European capitals this month. Organisers say it is more than a striking piece of public art: it symbolises the fundamental freedom for women and girls to make decisions about their bodies, futures and lives, freedoms they warn are increasingly under pressure.
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Campaigners say the tour comes at a critical moment. Cuts from European donors are putting contraception access for millions at risk, while 257 million women worldwide want to use modern contraception but cannot.
The organisers also point to a stark example closer to home: $9.7 million worth of U.S.-funded contraceptives are due to expire in Belgium, a stockpile that could otherwise meet the needs of 1.4 million women and girls in Africa.
"This campaign is about reminding each other that women’s health is non-negotiable," organisers said, stressing that everyone deserves the dignity and freedom to decide if and when to have children, to love who they choose and to ensure young people have access to education on healthy relationships.
Freeda, they added, represents a world where care, equality and opportunity are basic rights, not privileges, and where the ability to access contraception is treated as a cornerstone of those rights.
