Catherine Hensley (OU)
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Nov. 13, 2020) – The O.I.L. House chamber passed OU-504, which is known as “It’s About Bloody Time.” The bill proposes that the state mandate a monthly-stipend for individuals who experience monthly-menstrual cycles that would provide necessary menstrual-hygiene products and over-the-counter-pain killers.
The author of this bill is Rep. Bartelemess from the University of Oklahoma. Her high school experiences inspired her to write this bill. She said that many of the students at her home high school are considered low income and are unable to afford menstrual products. She first noticed the lack of access to the products when she was on her high school tennis team.
“I kept a pack of pads in my tennis locker for my teammates, and by the end of every semester, they were all gone,” Rep. Bartelemess said.
The hope for the bill is to relieve the burden of purchasing a product that menstruating people need.
“After doing some research, I found that a lot of menstruating people have to go without or sacrifice paying for food, water, or other necessities to afford period products,” Rep. Bartelemess said.
Menstrual-hygiene products are a necessity that not all menstruating-people are able to access. Nearly two-thirds of low-income women could not afford menstrual-hygiene products, according to a survey by Reuters Health.
Other states such as California and New York have laws in place to help make these hygiene products more accessible.
In California, public schools with grades 6-12th and with at least 40% of their student body considered low-income are required to provide free menstrual hygiene products in 50% of the school’s bathrooms. The state of New York has a law requiring all 6-12th grade public school bathrooms to provide free menstrual-hygiene products.
Rep.Barthelemess said the proposed bill would help all menstruating people in Oklahoma by directly giving each menstruating person a $25 stipend and allowing the individual to choose the best period products for themselves.
This bill passed in the house 23-7, and it was sent to the senate.