ALBANY — A Manhattan state assemblywoman is pushing to make tampons and other feminine hygiene products free in low-income schools, homeless shelters and prisons.
The bills by Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal follow her successful push in 2016 to repeal the sales tax on feminine hygiene products.
“Let me be clear: menstruating is not a luxury; it is a biological phenomenon that necessitates the use of products that are costly,” Rosenthal said. “However, month after month, women are forced to swallow their pride and sacrifice their well-being when deciding whether to purchase tampons or put food on the table.”
She said tampons, sanitary napkins, and other feminine hygiene products cost women several hundred dollars a year.
In schools, she argued, access to the products is important to allow students to participate without interruption in classes and extracurricular activities.
One of her bills would create a pilot project to provide free products to middle and high girls at selected low-income school districts.
In homeless shelters, a lack of access to feminine hygiene products in homeless shelters has some women and girls using paper bags, wads of toilet paper, or scraps of cloth, which can cause serious infection, Rosenthal said.
A second bill would require shelters to provide feminine products at no cost.
Her last bill would require state prisons to also provide free tampons and other feminine hygiene products to inmates.
Rosenthal said that many prisons do not supply inmates with the sufficient amount of products.
“Providing incarcerated women with sanitary napkins and tampons is not just a matter of personal hygiene, it is a matter of human dignity and equality,” said Karen Murphy, executive director of Prisoners Legal Services NY.
Murphy said many women need tampons and sanitary napkins and too often it’s only inmates who can afford to purchase tampons who get them.
“This is wrong, ill-advised and discriminatory,” she said.
None of the three Rosenthal bills have sponsors yet in the Senate.
