Lilo H. Stainton, NJ Spotlight April 21, 2022
When New Jersey Assemblywoman Shanique Speight was a child, she and her four siblings became homeless after a fire gutted their apartment. She saw her single mother struggle to feed the family as they shuttled between the YMCA, shelters and other temporary housing. Even essential items — like menstrual pads — felt out of reach.
That experience is part of what led Speight, an Essex County Democrat, to introduce a package of legislation designed to address “period poverty,” defined as a lack of access to sanitary products, places to use them and education about period health in general. “I can just remember the struggle she had in trying to raise us,” Speight recalled of her mother. “I know she couldn’t afford to buy these products. I just want to make sure those who are in this situation have access to these things.”
One of the bills, introduced in early March, calls for public support programs like Medicaid, SNAP (or food stamps) and WIC — which supports low-income new moms — to also cover the cost of pads, tampons and pantiliners. Another requires these items to be available for free at homeless shelters. There is a proposal to create a public-awareness campaign around period poverty. Other measures seek to expand screening for endometriosis, a condition that can cause serious pain, heavy monthly bleeding and increase infertility risks, and other concerns related to period health.
Three of the five bills have Senate versions as well. But none of these bills has been scheduled for a hearing, the first step toward becoming law. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) — who largely controls what measures get legislative attention in the Assembly — has pledged to review the measures, according to officials.
‘It’s about not being afraid to say ‘period.’’
“I just want to make sure woman are more comfortable talking about their period,” Speight said, “and that there is someone to talk to, instead of thinking you have to experience heavy bleeding or clotting.”
No need to suffer in silence
Particularly important, Speight said, is that girls and young women know that they do not have to suffer in silence. “It’s about not being afraid to say ‘period’,” she said. “I just want to make sure our younger generation has the information that they need to guide them in whatever choice they make.”
Speight’s work aligns with a wider, national movement to raise awareness of period health in general and highlight the racial gap in diagnosing and treating conditions like fibroids, uterine growths that can cause pain, bleeding, anemia and other complications. Eight out of 10 Black women develop fibroids during their lifetime, but they are less common among white women. Up to 40% of all women experience heavy bleeding or pain so severe they regularly miss school or work, according to Healthline Media, and medical providers urge them to speak up and seek help for these concerns.
‘I just want to start merging menstrual health and maternal health.’
Speight said she is also motivated by the connection between period health and maternal health, another area where she has played a leadership role. In 2018 she and other lawmakers compared their own birth experiences during a powerful hearing that painted a clear picture of how systemic racism impacts maternal health. Legislation she has since championed with colleagues enabled the state to expand access to doula care for low-income women, enhance and diversify the maternal health workforce and reduce racial bias among health care providers.
“I just want to start merging menstrual health and maternal health,” Speight said. “It’s a direct connection.”
Diagnosing endometriosis
A diagnosis of endometriosis, for example, increases a woman’s chances of infertility by 30% to 50%, according to Healthline. “I’m not sure women are aware of that,” Speight said, stressing the need for early detection. “Women need to know so they can be treated early, or to know what choices they have if they want to start a family.”
New Jersey has one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates and Black women are seven times more likely than white women to die from childbirth in the state. Lawmakers, community leaders and maternal health experts are working to change these numbers and have reported progress in improving some maternal health outcomes, like reducing unnecessary cesarean section deliveries. But the effort continues, coordinated in part through the Nurture NJ campaign founded by first lady Tammy Murphy in early 2020, which seeks to cut in half the death rate and eliminate the racial gap in five years.
“Institutional racism is 100% the root cause” of our maternal health crisis, Murphy told NJ Spotlight News last week, and she said elevating Black women’s voices is critical to the reform process.
Speight is also elevating Black women’s voices through her own “period packing parties”; last weekend’s gathering evolved into a photoshoot and brunch for some 50 people. She gathers friends and supporters to sort pads, tampons and pantiliners and create individual kits that her office distributes to women’s shelters and schools in Newark and Bellville. Another event is scheduled for May 21.
Speight said she feels lucky to be able to provide these things for herself and her daughter, but she thinks about the struggle facing low-income families, especially those with multiple teenage girls. Quality products are not cheap and bulk discounts are hard to get when cash is tight. While most products cost around a quarter each, women can go through a dozen or more a day, for several days, during their monthly period.
If Medicaid or WIC or another government-sponsored program could help relieve some of these costs, “that would definitely be helpful to young girls and the mothers of young girls,” Speight said. “And if they’re dealing with formula and Pampers, that all costs. It actually becomes a burden.”
Speight’s proposals include:
- A-3208, which would require public assistance programs like Medicaid, SNAP and Workfirst to cover the cost of menstrual hygiene products;
- A-3206 would require hospitals, birthing centers, community clinics, doctors and other providers to screen pregnant or post-partum patients who are diagnosed for preeclampsia to determine if they also have endometriosis;
- A-3211 would require facilities that shelter homeless people to provide free menstrual hygiene products to those in need;
- A-3212 would requires the state health department to establish a statewide screening and education program for endometriosis, polycystic ovarian cancer and possibly other conditions. (Speight said she wants to add fibroids to the list.)
- A-3825 calls for the state Department of Human Services to launch a public education campaign around period poverty and the resources available to women.
sistateacher’s thoughts
Yep, you read that correctly. PERIOD POVERTY is “defined as a lack of access to sanitary products, places to use them and education about period health in general”
Just as everything else, those who live in marginalized, under-resourced, and underserved communities have limited access to necessary items. The availability of sanitary products, pads and/or tampons, are more expensive and a precious commodity for all females.
It may seem less important than food, clothing, and shelter but it is essential just as food, clothing, and shelter. The lack of an adequate supply of sanitary items leads to a number of other problems such as embarrassment, bullying, and SHAME for the inability to meet one’s needs.
Because it is very much a part of life and very much part of being a female, it needs to be fine if someone needs assistance with addressing their needs. So, let’s be better at addressing the needs of females who require hygiene items.
sistateacher 