TSR Politics: California public schools and colleges will be required to stock their restrooms with free menstrual products under a bill signed today by Governor Gavin Newsom.
This new law builds on a 2017 one that requires low-income schools in disadvantaged areas to provide students with free menstrual products, according to the Associated Press.
This new bill expands the law to include grades 6 to 12, community colleges and the California State University and University of California systems, starting in the 2022-23 school year. The bill also encourages private schools and colleges to follow suit.
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“Our biology doesn’t always send an advanced warning when we’re about to start menstruating, which often means we need to stop whatever we’re doing and deal with a period,” Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia said about her legislation. “Just as toilet paper and paper towels are provided in virtually every public [bathroom], so should menstrual products.”
California is not alone in this movement. Purdue University in Indiana decided last year to offer free feminine hygiene products in its campus bathrooms.
“California joins a growing number of states who lead the way in demonstrating that menstrual equity is a matter of human rights,” the advocacy group PERIOD said in a statement. “No student should ever lose learning time due to their periods, period.”
California also previously repealed a tax on menstrual products that was costing women an estimated aggregate $20 million a year.
Newsom has had a busy week. He’s signed several other bills into law including one that outlaws nonconsensual condom removal, which was lauded by many.
He also signed a bill that will provide mothers access to postpartum care and doula services.
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