TWO YEARS AGO, Senate President Karen Spilka called it a “simple” proposition to make menstrual products available in public spaces like schools, prisons, and homeless shelters. At a 2023 hearing on a bill that would do that, Sen. Julian Cyr, the vice chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, called it “absurd that menstrual products aren’t readily available in every and all public locations.” 

But getting a “menstrual equity” bill across the finish line has been anything but simple.    

In two consecutive legislative sessions, the Senate passed a version of a bill that would provide disposable menstrual products at no cost in prisons, emergency housing hotels, homeless shelters, and public schools, but the legislation stalled both times in the House Ways and Means Committee.  

Advocates are hoping the third time will be the charm. The bill was favorably reported out of the Joint Committee on Public Health earlier this month and sent to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.    

There isn’t public opposition to the bill, according to advocates, legislators, and lobbying records. The Women’s Caucus, a bipartisan group of 60 lawmakers, listed the policy among its top five priorities. The Senate version of the bill has 22 cosponsors. The House bill has more than 50 lawmakers petitioning in support of the bill.  

House Speaker Ron Mariano’s office did not comment when asked why his chamber has not acted on this bill in the last two sessions. A spokesperson for Mariano said that he will review the bill this session if it is advanced by the House members of the public health committee.  

When the Senate approved the bill two years ago, Spilka suggested its passage should be an easy call. “I don’t say that very often for bills coming through the Legislature, but this one is simple,” Spilka said at a press conference following the October 2023 vote. “If we truly believe in equality for women and menstruating people, then making period products accessible is something that we absolutely need to do.”   

In a statement this week, a spokesperson for Spilka said, “Menstrual equity – and women’s issues more broadly – remain a top priority for the Senate, especially at a time when the federal government is intent on rolling back protections and rights.”  

The twice-stalled menstrual equity bill – called the I AM bill by its advocates – is cosponsored by Sen. Pat Jehlen of Somerville, Rep. Jay Livingstone of Boston, and Rep. Christine Barber of Somerville.  

Two other bills have been filed this session that would also increase accessibility to menstrual products. One bill, filed by Rep. Marjorie Decker of Cambridge and Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin, would make free menstrual products available in public schools. The other, filed by Jehlen and Rep. Mindy Domb of Amherst, would require any public building owned, rented, or occupied by the state and any public higher education institution to provide free menstrual products.  

“[Menstrual equity] is a relatively simple public health issue and it’s an equal rights issue, but mostly it’s just a simple, basic human need,” said Jehlen. As for why the bill hasn’t made all the way through the legislative process, Jehlen said, “If a bill doesn’t have an enormous lobbying push behind it, it can get lost because there are 6,000 bills and it just takes work and sometimes it takes persistence.”  

Sasha Goodfriend, the executive director of Mass NOW, a feminist non-profit advocacy organization, suggested that the issue is a matter of competing priorities in the Legislature.  

“At every point in the session we have the same talking points, but it just needs to be said over and over again because it’s forgotten about because it’s not top of mind for most people,” said Goodfriend. “We’re not used to thinking about periods because they’ve been stigmatized and made invisible for so long.”  

Advocates say that providing menstrual products in public facilities like prisons, schools, and shelters will involve minimal cost but they have not provided an exact estimate. Goodfriend said that when bought in bulk, menstrual products cost only cents per product.  

Decker, who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Public Health, said that she is looking into drafting legislation that threads together the different menstrual equity bills.    

“In the Legislature, nothing’s ever simple,” Decker said, when asked about why the bill has twice stalled in the House. “We have to do our due diligence. It means talking to stakeholders,” she said, citing the need for conversations with those overseeing public facilities, education officials, and those in charge of the state shelter system.  

Livingstone – who has filed the I AM bill for four sessions – sees the number of menstrual equity bills this session as an encouraging sign that the issue is gaining momentum.   

“This happens a lot with bills, where they pass one [legislative] body or another and then ultimately, they’re successful at another time, so I remain hopeful,” said Livingstone. 

Advocates say people who menstruate face significant negative impacts when they do not have ready access to menstrual products in public spaces like prisons, schools, and homeless shelters. Lack of these essential products, they say, can lead to physical discomfort, poor hygiene, increased risk of infections, and emotional distress due to stigma and shame.   

According to the Alliance for Period Supplies, a national organization of community-based non-profits, one in nine women and girls in Massachusetts lives under the poverty line and therefore may struggle to afford basic necessities, including period products.  

For students in schools, this can result in missed class days and hindered academic performance. In prisons and shelters, where individuals often have limited control over their environment, advocates say the absence of free and accessible menstrual products exacerbates their vulnerability.   

In a 2024 survey conducted by Mass NOW, 70 percent of the 187 school nurses who responded said that they have seen students miss classes due to a lack of menstrual products.   

Stocking bathrooms with period products or making products available upon request has gained traction with individual school systems, including in Boston, Brookline, Somerville, and Medford. Boston also has a program that offers free period products at six Boston Public Library branches.   

Private higher education institutions like Harvard University, Brandeis University, Boston University, and Northeastern University have all launched initiatives to make free menstrual products available in campus bathrooms.   

Advocates have tried to fill some of the gaps by distributing menstrual products to people who can’t otherwise access them. Mass NOW has worked with other groups across the state to give out more than half a million period products in the last seven months, according to the group.   

Goodfriend said Mass NOW previously depended on an annual state grant of $270,000 to support its menstrual equity efforts, but because of cuts to the program, it will receive only half that amount in 2026. 

“This is a reminder of why relying on charity and short-term grants to meet menstrual products needs is not sustainable in the context of the current federal environment and we now especially need a permanent solution not just temporary goodwill,” said Goodfriend.