This school year, every public school in Oregon will offer free menstrual products to their students after Gov. Kate Brown signed the Menstrual Dignity Act earlier this year.
House Bill 3294 had schools initially provide free pads and tampons in at least two restrooms, expanding it to all bathrooms by July 1.
The bill is intended to help students who cannot buy or afford products and assure that a student's need for them isn't preventing them from learning successfully.
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For the Portland-based advocacy group PERIOD, the bill brings attention to real issues happening in the country. Michela Bedard, the group's executive director, touched on this with the Statesman Journal.
"There's a lot of folks that think that period poverty is something that happens on the other side of the planet or only in the developing world, but our research shows that that is unfortunately not the case," Bedard said.
Other youth activists and advocacy groups have also been pushing for similar legislation over the years. A national survey in 2019 revealed that of 1,000 teens ages 13-19, one in five struggled to afford period products or were unable to purchase them at all, the Statesman reported.
It also found that four in five students either missed class time or knew someone who had missed class time due to not being able to get menstrual products.
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In 2020 the same group that conducted the 2019 survey found that period poverty had jumped, showing that lower-income students and students of color were disproportionately impacted.
The study found that 23% of students struggled to afford period products, with 16% choosing to buy period products instead of food or clothes.
"We also have our own reporting that shows that over half of students feel that they do not do their best work at school or are less engaged in school work when they are on-site without period products, and this unfortunately disproportionately affects Black and brown menstruators," Bedard said. "This is an issue of poverty and income inequality."
Currently, advocates throughout the state are hoping to build on their success, trying to make menstrual products available at additional locations, including jails, prisons, and workplaces. They also hope that the efforts in Oregon will become a national example.
"We'd also love to talk about this at a national level," she said. "When we think of things like soap, toilet paper, food, shampoo, let's make sure that menstrual products are on that list."
