Schools in New York to start providing free menstrual products for girls

All public middle and high schools in the state of New York are now required to provide girls with feminine hygiene products in the schools’ restrooms. This announcement was made by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He said the state government will now require that free menstrual products are provided in restrooms for people in grades six through 12.

A similar piece of legislation was passed in 2016, requiring that New York City public schools provide menstrual products to students, but this is the first legislation of its kind to be passed statewide.

“Menstrual products are as necessary as toilet paper and soap, but can be one expense too many for struggling families,” Cuomo tweeted.

Back in 2016, Cuomo eliminated the “tampon tax”, exempting menstrual products from the state’s sales tax, a change which was estimated to have saved New York women $10 million a year. Afterwards, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania followed suit and eliminated taxes on menstrual products, but none have gone as far as to offer them for free.

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