Arizona lawmaker pushing to make period products free in bathrooms at public schools
By Holly Bock
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PHOENIX, Arizona (KTVK) — Some Arizona lawmakers want to make feminine hygiene products more available to students in public schools across the state. The idea is to have free tampons and pad dispensers in school bathrooms.
The goal would be to have dispensers with period products in schools from grades 6-12. Right now, for many students, the only option is to go to the school nurse when they need a tampon or pad, and lawmakers say that’s not always ideal, and it takes time away from learning in the classroom.
Valley mother, Katey McPherson, has four teenagers, 14 to 16 years old. “I get calls monthly from one of my girls like, please come get me because I didn’t have what I needed and I need to come home, or I didn’t make it to the nurses office to get what I needed in time,” McPherson said. “For all genders, anything we can do to provide a better, safer, more private way to just be a human is fantastic.”
The goal behind Senate Bill 1675, created by Mitzi Epstein, is to eliminate the stigma. It would require all Arizona public schools to provide period products to students free of charge and give $1 million in funding to help schools with the task. “We have found 86% of people who menstruate have been caught off guard without the products they need and therefore can lead to a very embarrassing situation,” Senator Epstein said.
Two Republican members of the senate education committee voted against the bill saying the products can be found in the nurse’s office. “When checking with educators and my family and friends, these products, and even with my own experience growing up are already provided. They just simply have to go ask,” Senator Sine Kerr said.
McPherson says in a pinch, that isn’t the quickest or most ideal situation. But, she believes this idea, if implemented, could have a huge impact on Arizona families. “It’s a lot. It adds up quickly, especially for Title 1 students already struggling to make it, and even middle-class families, it’s getting more and more expensive to raise children and just be human,” she said.
Demetra Presley is the executive director of Go With the Flow, a nonprofit that provides free period products to schools in Phoenix and Tucson. She is for the bill. “Research has shown one in five students will miss school because they don’t have access to period products,” she said.
The bill got bipartisan support as it passed through the education committee. The best hope for the bill is for Gov. Hobbs to add it to a budget deal before the session ends.
In a statement, the Arizona Education Association said: “As educators, we support this bill. Students shouldn’t have to miss out on important learning time because of a lack of access to period products!”
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