California May Require Free Menstrual Products in Public Schools Soon: NPR

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California public schools and colleges are expected to stock their toilets with free menstrual products under legislation sent to Governor Gavin Newsom.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

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Rich Pedroncelli / AP

California public schools and colleges are expected to stock their toilets with free menstrual products under legislation sent to Governor Gavin Newsom.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

SACRAMENTO, Calif .– Public schools and colleges in California should stock their toilets with free menstrual products under legislation sent to Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday as women’s rights activists lobby across the country for affordable access to towels sanitary pads, tampons and other items.

Democrat MP Cristina Garcia’s bill builds on her 2017 law requiring low-income schools in disadvantaged areas to provide students with free menstrual products.

Several other states were considering or demanding free menstrual products in public schools, according to advocacy group Women’s Voices for the Earth. Purdue University in Indiana last year decided to offer free feminine hygiene products in campus bathrooms.

Garcia had also urged California to follow the lead of at least 10 states by exempting menstrual products from sales taxes, which she said cost women $ 20 million a year because other health products like drugs against erectile dysfunction were exempt.

The advocacy group says more than half of states still tax menstrual products as a “luxury” item. Around the world, many countries have eliminated these taxes, including Great Britain, Australia, Canada and India.

There was not much opposition to the bill

New California law extends the 2017 law to grades 6 through 12, community colleges, and California State University and University of California systems, starting in the 2022-2023 school year. He encourages private schools and colleges to follow suit.

There were no registered opponents and few opposition votes.


Congresswoman Cristina Garcia drafted a bill to expand access to free menstrual products in all public schools in California.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

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Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Congresswoman Cristina Garcia drafted a bill to expand access to free menstrual products in all public schools in California.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

“Often times, periods come at the wrong time. They can surprise us for an important semester, playing with our kids in a park, sitting in a lobby while waiting for a job interview, shopping for groceries, or even standing upstairs. of the Assembly. introducing an important bill, “Garcia said in a statement.

Convenient access, she said, “would ease the anxiety of trying to find a product in public.”

She said her measure was inspired by Scotland, which last year declared access to menstrual products a human right and demanded that public places provide them for free.

Ideally, Garcia said, menstrual products would be as common in the toilet as toilet paper and paper towels.

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