Free feminine hygiene products would be made accessible to middle and high school students in the state under legislation in the Iowa House.
For the past few years, bills aimed at addressing period poverty by making feminine hygiene products more accessible to students have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature, but all have failed to gain traction.
On Monday, students and retired teachers gathered at a House Education subcommittee, urging lawmakers to advance a similar bill this legislative session. House File 543 would require school boards ensure that free feminine hygiene products are accessible for students in at least half of the restrooms in public middle and high school buildings.
It also would require that students in sixth through 12th grades are notified that the supply of products is refilled regularly. Feminine hygiene products that would be offered include sanitary napkins, tampons or other “similar products used for feminine hygiene.”
Maanya Pandey, the founder and president of Love for Red, which focuses on addressing period poverty in Iowa, has been pushing for this legislation for years. She said many students lack access to feminine hygiene products, and teachers and school nurses end up purchasing products for them with their own money.
“Almost every menstruating student can relate to this situation, getting your period unexpectedly and realizing you don't have a menstrual product in your bag,” Pandey said. “Your options are begging people around you for a spare product, the coin-operated dispensers ... missing more class time than you already have to visit the nurse, or use what's available — stuffing toilet paper into your underwear, hoping you don't bleed through your pants during the day.”
Pandey, a junior at the University of Iowa studying public health, said Love for Red has been able to help provide feminine hygiene products for thousands of Iowa students, but they can’t do it forever. She added that schools should supply menstrual products when they are already paying for toilet paper and soap.
Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have either state funding for free menstrual products or requirements for schools to offer them, according to the Alliance for Period Products.
In 2022, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law exempting feminine hygiene products and diapers from state sales tax.
The bill would provide funding for menstrual products in schools from July 1, 2025, through July 30, 2028, with an estimated cost of $200,000 per year.
Republican Rep. David Young from Van Meter, the bill’s sponsor, introduced similar legislation last year. He first considered sponsoring the legislation when Pandey, a constituent of his, brought the topic to his attention.
“It's an issue of fairness,” Young told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau. “You can take care of a boy's bodily functions at school. You should be able to take care of a girl's bodily functions as well.”
www.thegazette.com
For the past few years, bills aimed at addressing period poverty by making feminine hygiene products more accessible to students have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature, but all have failed to gain traction.
On Monday, students and retired teachers gathered at a House Education subcommittee, urging lawmakers to advance a similar bill this legislative session. House File 543 would require school boards ensure that free feminine hygiene products are accessible for students in at least half of the restrooms in public middle and high school buildings.
It also would require that students in sixth through 12th grades are notified that the supply of products is refilled regularly. Feminine hygiene products that would be offered include sanitary napkins, tampons or other “similar products used for feminine hygiene.”
Maanya Pandey, the founder and president of Love for Red, which focuses on addressing period poverty in Iowa, has been pushing for this legislation for years. She said many students lack access to feminine hygiene products, and teachers and school nurses end up purchasing products for them with their own money.
“Almost every menstruating student can relate to this situation, getting your period unexpectedly and realizing you don't have a menstrual product in your bag,” Pandey said. “Your options are begging people around you for a spare product, the coin-operated dispensers ... missing more class time than you already have to visit the nurse, or use what's available — stuffing toilet paper into your underwear, hoping you don't bleed through your pants during the day.”
Pandey, a junior at the University of Iowa studying public health, said Love for Red has been able to help provide feminine hygiene products for thousands of Iowa students, but they can’t do it forever. She added that schools should supply menstrual products when they are already paying for toilet paper and soap.
Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have either state funding for free menstrual products or requirements for schools to offer them, according to the Alliance for Period Products.
In 2022, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law exempting feminine hygiene products and diapers from state sales tax.
The bill would provide funding for menstrual products in schools from July 1, 2025, through July 30, 2028, with an estimated cost of $200,000 per year.
Republican Rep. David Young from Van Meter, the bill’s sponsor, introduced similar legislation last year. He first considered sponsoring the legislation when Pandey, a constituent of his, brought the topic to his attention.
“It's an issue of fairness,” Young told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau. “You can take care of a boy's bodily functions at school. You should be able to take care of a girl's bodily functions as well.”
Free period products in schools gains traction in the Iowa House
Free feminine hygiene products would be made accessible to middle and high school students in the state under legislation in the Iowa House.
www.thegazette.com
