You are reading

Meng Introduces Bill to Make Menstrual Hygiene Products More Accessible for All

Grace Meng (Photo: Meng)

March 28, 2019 By Alexa Beyer

Congresswoman Grace Meng on Tuesday introduced the Menstrual Equity for All Act, legislation designed to address the difficulties women and girls face in accessing menstrual hygiene products.

The bill aims to give states the option to use federal grant funds to provide students with free menstrual hygiene products in schools—the same funds that already sponsor other health and wellness efforts.

The bill also seeks to ensure that incarcerated and detained individuals in federal, state and local detention centers—including immigration detention centers–have access to free and unrationed menstrual products. Although the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced in 2017 that it would be requiring federal prisons to make these products available to incarcerated women, subsequent reports suggest that numerous prisons were failing to comply.

Medicaid would also be required to cover the cost of feminine hygiene products for its recipients.

Meng’s proposal would also include that all public federal buildings and private companies–that employ 100 people or more–be required to provide these products for free in restrooms.

“Every day we see the struggles of families and women faced with impossible questions around managing their periods: Do I buy period products or food? Do I leave the house with only one tampon for a job where I can’t call in sick?” according to Corinne Cannon, Founder and Executive Director of the Greater DC Diaper Bank.

“This bill is an enormous step toward ensuring more families, young girls, and women have access to the products they need to manage their periods in a dignified and healthy way,” Cannon said.

Meng sponsored a similar bill in 2017, which passed in the House of Representatives but did not make it through the Senate. Meng says this legislation aims to end our nation’s inequities toward women, girls and individuals who menstruate. “We want women to succeed and advancing menstrual equity is critical to reach this goal.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com

12 Comments

Click for Comments 
Mrs. Garrett

How gross! This woman really treats women as if they were incompetents and idiots.

5
64
Reply
"all natual things are exactly the same" -- the Gullible Mrs. Geriatic

Do you usually menstruate in public?! Strange…

25
1
Reply
Mrs. Geriatric

Good for you, that you have that privilege. Some don’t. If you’d read the article you’d know that…

29
Reply
Princess Vespa

Geez, stop being so privileged! There are many menstruating girls who have no access to supplies like these. Or they have inappropriate supplies. No 12 year old should be using tampons. It’s insanely painful to use one on your first day of your period.

27
Reply
Nosferatu

“Meng says this legislation aims to end our nation’s inequities toward women, girls and individuals who menstruate.”

What kind of nonsense is this? Besides women and girls who else menstruates?

10
36
Reply
That Guy

Menstrual Equity for All Act, so even as a man I’m entitled to free menstrual stuff? Great!

“incarcerated and detained individuals in federal, state and local detention centers—including immigration detention centers–have access to free and unrationed menstrual products.”

More free stuff for deadbeats.

Hey, Grace how about reducing the Federal tax burden for the hard working middle class? Oh wait that would take work.

12
46
Reply
Time to relax

Thank heaven Grace Meng had the wisdom to focus her efforts on addressing this pressing issue.

10
10
Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Senior assaulted near Francis Lewis Park in Whitestone: NYPD

A 68-year-old man was brutally assaulted by a stranger in broad daylight near the entrance to Francis Lewis Park in Whitestone on Sunday afternoon, and police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are asking for the public’s help in tracking down his assailant.

The random attack occurred just before 3 p.m. on Sept. 8, as the victim was walking in the vicinity of 3rd Avenue and the Whitestone Expressway. The perpetrator approached and engaged the victim in a verbal dispute. The argument turned violent when the suspect punched the victim in the face with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground, where he struck his head, police said. The suspect then fled in an unknown direction.

Woman allegedly choked in Queensboro Hill by robber who snatched her bag containing thousands in cash: NYPD

Police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are looking for a strangler who robbed a 63-year-old woman in Queensboro Hill on the night of Thursday, Aug. 29.

The victim was walking on a residential block near the intersection of Frame Place and Maple Avenue just before midnight, when a stranger approached her and began to choke her. The perpetrator snatched her bag, which contained $6,000 in cash, her wallet and an iPhone.

Flushing man charged with murder in fatal stabbing of wife at spa

A Flushing man was criminally charged in the fatal stabbing of his wife in front of horrified customers at a Kissena Boulevard spa during the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Jiahai Ma, 25, of Cherry Avenue, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday evening on a criminal complaint charging him with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly killing 26-year-old Jui Mei Tang during a fit of rage in the basement of the Bodywork Spa at 41-39 Kissena Blvd.