NEW BEDFORD — With pull carts and a dolly in tow, four women ferried 100 boxes from the back of a commercial truck into a conference room at the YWCA. Quickly, tables were covered with stacks of boxes — each containing 500 tampons or 500 pads.
Within the hour, they divided the boxes among community organizations in New Bedford and Fall River, all in need of supply, with Post-its marking where they were headed. From there, the pads and tampons will find their way into the hands of “menstruators” — the term advocates use — who cannot afford the essential products.
“Every single person who is experiencing food insecurity, housing insecurity and who menstruates is also experiencing period poverty,” said Sasha Goodfriend, executive director of Mass NOW, wearing a T-shirt that read “Bleed like a Boss” in bright red.
Massachusetts is behind more than a dozen other states, which already require government buildings, schools, jails, or homeless shelters to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms. State legislation that would require free pads and tampons in those settings is now pending with the House, after the state Senate passed it in the fall.
In New Bedford, the school district and county jail have already made pads and tampons available at no cost.
For the second legislative session, the “I AM” bill (an acronym for “increasing access to menstrual products”) now sits before the House Ways and Means committee, which has yet to vote on it. Another bill, which would require free menstrual products in state buildings, is also pending before the House.
Mass NOW, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women, has spent years advocating for the I AM bill. Meanwhile, with the help of state grants, the organization has been purchasing products and working with community organizations, like those in New Bedford, to distribute them.
According to the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition, a group of activists and organizations working to end “period poverty,” one in seven children in the state, or 14%, lives in poverty and struggles to pay for menstrual products.
The poverty rate is higher in New Bedford, nearly 19%, per census data.
The coalition reports that shelters say menstrual products are among the least donated items.
“Menstrual products are not a luxury that should depend upon whether you can afford to purchase such items,” said state Sen. Mark Montigny, cosponsor of the Senate bill, in a statement to The Light. “Public facilities do not charge for access to toilet paper or hand soap. It is time that we finally recognize as a society that access to menstrual products is a basic health necessity.”
Health equity issue
When people don’t have access to pads, tampons or other menstrual products, they improvise. Local advocates say people will flatten a roll of toilet paper or use socks as makeshift pads. Additionally, they may try to use a single pad or tampon for too long.
According to the American Medical Association, these practices can be dangerous to one’s health, potentially leading to urinary tract infections or toxic shock syndrome, which can be life-threatening.
New Bedford Public Schools’ efforts to distribute menstrual products started a few years ago, when the district installed a dispenser in Keith Middle School as a pilot site after students raised the issue with the School Committee.
Since then, the district has installed dispensers for pads and tampons in girls’ bathrooms and gender-neutral bathrooms in its middle schools and high school, said Emily Westgate, the curriculum, data, and assessment manager for health and wellness at the district.
In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, NBPS spent more than $48,000 on pads and the hands-free dispensers.
Until recently, the machines were only stocked with pads, but they are now stocked with tampons, too, said Westgate. The newer dispensers are touch-free, but require regular replacement of batteries. On a recent visit to Keith Middle School, one box was not dispensing because its batteries needed changing.
Some students have difficulty accessing menstrual products outside of school. Others also may feel some embarrassment in talking about menstruation.
According to a 2021 survey of about 50 New Bedford Public School students, about 62% reported they “experienced difficulty” accessing period products. Nearly the same amount reported they had not taken or received free period products from school (be it from a nurse, teacher or peer) in the past academic year.
Westgate said the sample size is small and that the data should not be seen as representative of the district’s student population.
Advocates say that without dispensers in bathrooms, a lack of access to products can cause students to be late to class or miss class entirely. Students may need to walk to the nurse’s office to get a pad or tampon, or skip school altogether.
“Getting to the nurse’s office from one side of the school building to the other can take up class time,” said Wendy Garf-Lipp, executive director of United Neighbors of Fall River which also oversees the local program, Coalition Against Period Poverty. “Women and menstruators are being unfairly disadvantaged in a system that works against them.”
Massachusetts nurses have reported that students have missed class to obtain the products, or expressed shame or embarrassment when asking for products in the nurse’s office, per a Mass NOW survey.
According to data in a report released this month by Mass NOW, the number of New Bedford students who visited the nurse’s office for menstrual products decreased by about 6% between the 2018-2019 school year and the 2022-2023 year, coinciding with the installation of more than 45 dispensers in district bathrooms.
“It means students are in class, which is why they came to school,” said Goodfriend.
“We expect to see a reduction in such nursing visits over time,” said Westgate. “Having universal access to pads and tampons in restrooms at our school is as essential as toilet paper and paper towels.”
The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office provides free pads, tampons and panty liners to inmates, according to spokesperson Hadley Zibel. Security staff leave the products on a counter that inmates can take when needed.
Inmates placed in solitary units — either as a form of discipline or due to risk factors — however, need to request menstrual products from correctional officers, said Zibel.
There’s still a need in New Bedford
After delivering the tampons and pads to the YWCA, Goodfriend and staff with Mass NOW filled up two carts and delivered several boxes to the public library across from New Bedford City Hall. The bin in the restroom, meant to hold these products, was empty.
Leimary Llopiz, an advocacy coordinator at New Bedford’s YWCA, says the need in New Bedford is increasing. She gives her cellphone number to people in the community. If someone needs menstrual products, they text or call her and she’ll drop them off, often as part of a package with diapers, other hygiene supplies, and food.
She sees many local, new moms struggle to afford pads or tampons, sometimes having to forgo them in order to afford rent, food and diapers.
Llopiz said she has heard of a need for products in elementary schools. Westgate said they have not installed any dispensers at the elementary schools (where students can go to the nurse’s office for free products), but that they’re “keeping an eye” on it.
Research shows girls are getting their periods at younger ages. Goodfriend said introducing the products in restrooms at the elementary school level can not only address a need, but also help destigmatize menstruation.
Llopiz delivered remarks this week at Fort Taber at a legislative breakfast before local leaders and elected officials, touching on her own experience to bring attention to the pending legislation.
“Growing up, my family lived in poverty, and it was a struggle to afford basic necessities,” she said. “Many times I had to wear the same pad throughout the whole day. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, and self-conscious.”
Llopiz added, “By passing the I AM bill, the commonwealth will signal to all low-income women and girls that they deserve to live their lives with dignity and respect.”
A spokesperson with the House Ways and Means committee did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Light about the status of the legislation in the committee.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
A ridiculous use of taxpayer money. What will we be asked to pay for next? Personal responsibility goes a long way to creating success.
Written like a man with no experience on the subject. Young girls miss school because they do not have access to period products. What do you think they should do, hold it until they get home? Or are they not deserving of a little assistance? It hurts nothing to help those that are less fortunate. Be as passion about corporate welfare where millions of tax dollars go.
I’m passionate about MY tax dollars. I guarantee every one of these folks has a cell phone and a pack of cigarettes if they smoke. They stop at Dunks for an iced coffee and can afford tattoos and other “luxuries”. I’m sure a package of pads is well within their means.
Reading is important and so is understanding what you read, something I don’t think you have a firm grasp on. Part of their program is an outreach to school. Children. But here you are talking out of the side of your mouth about “luxuries” like cigarettes and tattoos. Just admit you are ignorant on the subject and move on. Again, be more concerned with corporate welfare that takes more of your tax dollar.
I’m talking about responsible parents taking care of their children and providing for them instead of for themselves. They aren’t my kids, I should have to pay more than I already do for their education. Let the tattooed, smoking, cell phone using parents foot the bill for their own. They can surely afford period supplies or can get them from charity organizations, not my tax dollars.