California to Require Free Period Products in Schools for ‘Menstrual Equity’

Closed lockers in a school hallway
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Amy Furr

Period products will be available free inside public schools in California beginning next school year under legislation signed into law on Friday.

The Washington Post reported Sunday:

Public schools with students in grades 6 to 12, community colleges and the California State University System — a network of 23 campuses with more than 485,00 students — will be required to provide free period products in restrooms starting in the 2022-23 academic year. The legislation, named the Menstrual Equity for All Act, was introduced by Cristina Garcia (D), a member of California’s state assembly, and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The law is the most recent move toward “menstrual equity” in America’s most populous state.

“This year it also eliminated a tax on menstrual products (also led by Garcia), which Garcia said in a statement costs Californians more than $20 million annually,” the Post article read.

Free period items are already required to be in low-income schools because of 2017 legislation introduced by Garcia, who describes herself as the “Period Princess.”

In a social media post on Friday, Garcia wrote, “Can’t believe CA is the first state… 1 down, 49 to go. Challenging everyone to ensure products are as readily available as toilet paper. It’s 2021, time to catch up across the nation #MenstrualEquity”:

According to Garcia, offering period products for free in schools would “alleviate the anxiety of trying to find a product,” erasing a possible distraction and barrier to education for students menstruating.

“Just as toilet paper and paper towels are provided in virtually every public bathroom, so should menstrual products,” she asserted. “It is time we recognize and respond to the biology of half the population by prioritizing free access to menstrual products, and eliminating all barriers to them.”

Last year, Scotland became the first country to pass legislation making women’s menstrual products free in public facilities across the nation.

In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded feminine hygiene products be put in men’s restrooms to alleviate what it claimed was “menstruation-related discrimination” against transgender and “non-binary” people.

“The goal, the ACLU claims, is to achieve ‘menstrual equity,’ whereby menstrual products are available to all, including biological women who claim to be men and use men’s rest rooms,” Breitbart News reported.

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