“I have my period and I am bleeding heavily.”
If reading that statement makes you feel uncomfortable, that is partly why District 39B Minnesota House Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) is the chief author for HF 44 – a bill introduced that if passed, would help further normalize conversation about menstruation and periods, provide student access to period products, and address period poverty in schools.
The bill requires all Minnesota schools serving students in grades four through 12 to provide pads, tampons or other products connected with the menstrual cycle to students free of charge.
“Providing free period products in all student bathrooms is a way to just say this is a normal bodily function,” said Feist, who represents Columbia Heights and St. Anthony as well as New Brighton. “We provide toilet paper and people don’t get squeamish or feel uncomfortable. By providing period products, it additionally normalizes that aspect of our bodies that 50% of students and all of us [those who menstruate] experience once a month.”
“I was absent today because I did not have a tampon or pad.”
Period poverty prevents students from attending school because they cannot afford period products or may not have access to them. One of the main consequences of period poverty is absenteeism and the health consequences that arise if students take different measures.
“Period poverty is when somebody cannot afford menstrual products and is not able to fully participate in public life,” Feist said. “They might be missing school or work. It’s when the inability to afford period products directly impacts the way they live their lives.”
According to the The Gender Policy Report, authored by the University of Minnesota, over 50% of the population menstruates for a significant portion of their life. Lower income often impacts the ability to access period products and can force menstruating students to use other means like toilet paper, rags, and cut-up diapers.
Transgender students are also greatly affected by access to period products. The proposed bill would place tampons and pads in all bathrooms, including bathrooms labeled as male gendered.
“The legislation requires that period products are placed in all students’ bathrooms, grades four through 12,” Feist said. “This includes gender-neutral, female, and male bathrooms. This was very deliberate because students who menstruate who are not female face even greater barriers to asking for those products when they need them.”
Erica Solomon, executive director of the National Council of Jewish Women Minnesota (NCJW), has worked closely with Feist supporting HF 44 and believes enacting this bill promotes equity and inclusion.
“It serves students of all genders and all gender identities that open conversations about menstruation, and period products in their schools,” said Solomon. “It’s creating a culture of respect, a culture where people are more accepting of [the] basic bodily functions that go into reproductive health, and everything that entails respect, consent and well-being of all kinds.”
The spark that lit the fire for the bill came from a student advocate who approached Feist. Elif Ozturk, a 16-year-old student at Hopkins High School, is an advocate whose passion for the subject started in middle school as an assignment.
Ozturk completed her assignment and took her passion further, talking with staff and administrators. “I would notice students needing products and asking each other for them, or having to go to the nurse,” Ozturk said. “But the nurse paid for it out of her own pocket, and this really frustrated me especially because I went to an economically diverse middle school. I knew the reason was students couldn’t afford it.”
Ozturk reached out to Feist to begin creating the language for HF 44 while researching other states. California, Illinois, New York, Oregon and Virginia require menstrual product availability in schools.
Ozturk has since testified before the House and recruited a group of student advocates metrowide who lead the effort at their own schools. Approximately 15 students from seven Twin Cities schools meet monthly to develop strategies and participate in the legislative process led by Feist.
“It’s really meaningful that most of the student advocates around this issue are female,” Feist said. “They universally feel a strong kinship with all students who menstruate and want to make sure that every single student who might experience period poverty or doesn’t feel comfortable with their menstrual cycle, [does] feel seen and supported.”
The National Council of Jewish Women Minnesota has spent several years advocating for menstrual equity, but Solomon saidstudents who attend school, experience menstruation and experience the everyday problems with lack of access are the voices and future change makers.
“We’ve really tried to prioritize having students and school staff, whether they be teachers, or nurses or administrators, be the ones who are speaking to this bill’s importance this year,” Solomon said.
Menstruation, period, bleeding, pad and tampon – these are just a few of the words Feist, Ozturk and Solomon want to normalize in conversations about routine bodily functions. Feist said the bill will encourage equity and inclusion because many of the students affected by period poverty are from marginalized, LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
“This is an incredibly important issue that directly impacts the lives of all students,” Feist said. “The fact that it disproportionately impacts students of color, is something that makes this even more important and more urgent.”
The bill went through two House education committees and two Senate education committees on Wednesday, Jan. 18; student advocates ran between meetings to testify about their experiences. Feist said, “We’re having another hearing in the Education Finance committee next Wednesday [Jan. 25] at 10:30 a.m.”
Because the bill includes a $2 million appropriation that would provide products to all Minnesota schools at approximately $2 per student, it could move off the Senate and House floors and become an independent bill if leadership agrees. Feist said the bill has bipartisan support. She hopes that once the bill is passed, it will go into effect July 1, 2023, to allow schools to prepare for the upcoming school year.
Elif Ozturk testifies to the Minnesota House of Representatives as Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) looks on. (Photo by Marla Khan-Schwartz)
