In 2025, the U.S. government launched a new, terrifying wave of attacks on women's and girls' reproductive rights, both at home and around the world. Globally, the Trump administration dismantled USAID and terminated the majority of its global sexual and reproductive health and rights funding. In 2024, that support alone provided 47.6 million women and couples with contraceptive resources and prevented 17.1 million unintended pregnancies. The consequences were immediate: clinics closed, contraception disappeared, and girls without access to reproductive healthcare faced unintended pregnancies that cut their education and futures short. Meanwhile in the U.S., state abortion bans have been forcing women to either travel hundreds of miles for lifesaving care or carry pregnancies against their will.
PAI launched Freedom Starts With Her in October 2025 with two primary objectives: to educate the American public about the connection between the rollback of women's and girls' reproductive rights here in the U.S. and around the world, and to mobilize advocates with resources and tools, particularly young people, to take action in defense of those rights globally and at home.
PAI developed a multi-platform campaign including a launch video, a dedicated campaign website, educational webinars, advocacy toolkit, and a nationwide series of city-level community activations bringing together local advocates, young people, and community leaders to take place in the second half of 2026. The campaign was built to to equip people with the concrete tools and resources they need to become effective advocates for women and girls globally.
The main challenges facing Freedom Starts With Her was relevance in an already busy news landscape and awareness. While many Americans are familiar with the domestic rollback of reproductive rights (the overturning of Roe v. Wade, unprecedented state abortion bans etc.), far fewer are aware of the erosion of reproductive rights happening globally, driven significantly by the U.S. government's policy decisions. At a moment when Americans are bombarded daily with news that feels urgent and is close to home, PAI set out to make the case that attacks on reproductive rights at home and abroad are rooted in the same thing: control. And that the U.S. government's role in unraveling decades of bipartisan progress on global sexual and reproductive health and rights is not separate from the domestic fight, it is the same fight.
A second major strategic challenge was narrative. The Trump administration has framed its anti-rights agenda as aligned with American values and freedoms. Research shows that the majority of Americans support reproductive health and rights. This campaign was designed to reflect that reality and reclaim the language that has been politicized and weaponized. We also aimed to use this campaign to shine a light on things like the U.S. government ordering the incineration of American taxpayer-funded contraceptives intended for women around the world, or reinstating the Global Gag Rule to silence the organizations providing critical care, and how this does not represent American values.
To bring the campaign to life, Fenton and PAI made a deliberate choice to communicate in simple language rather than industry jargon, centering real women and their real stories to close the education gap and make these issues feel urgent, personal, and accessible to general audiences. The campaign launched with a short-form video with creative direction that was intentionally designed to move audiences from urgency to agency.
PAI launched their campaign across digital and social platforms, supported by a dedicated campaign website at FreedomStartsWithHer.org, and was taken directly into communities through a nationwide series of city-level activations. Working alongside more than 75 partners in over 30 countries, PAI ensured that the voices and leadership of the women and communities at the center of this fight remained front and center throughout.
Since launching in October 2025, Freedom Starts with Her has reached over 6,500 people across social media platforms, generating 4,790 impressions and over 8,700 engagements on launch content alone. The campaign launch video has been shared across platforms and 2,700 people have already visited FreedomStartsWithHer.org to learn more and join the movement, reflecting a community of engaged advocates ready to be mobilized as city-level activations roll out this summer.
The campaign has also begun converting awareness into direct action. An educational webinar brought together advocates for a live conversation about the global state of reproductive rights, and the Freedom Starts with Her Youth Institute is preparing its first cohort of young advocates to meet directly with their elected representatives in Washington, D.C. this summer, connecting the next generation of reproductive rights champions with the policymakers who need to hear from them most.
Beyond the metrics, Freedom Starts with Her represents a shift in how global reproductive rights are communicated to everyday Americans. Historically, the complexity of policies like the Global Gag Rule has kept these issues limited to policy circles, felt deeply by the communities they affect, but rarely breaking through to the broader public. This campaign was built to change that. By replacing jargon with human stories, connecting the local to the global, and giving people who care about these issues a clear and accessible entry point into the fight, Freedom Starts with Her makes these issues feel important to audiences who may be hearing about them for the first time.