By: Kayley Bell
During the 2020-2021 Wisconsin Youth in Government Session, Delegate Mekayla Tanck proposed her bill “An Act to Make it Mandatory for all Women’s Restroom in Wisconsin to Be Supplied with Pads and Tampons in Dispensers.” Although this bill has gained much support within the Door County Delegation, there are some major points to be brought to attention.
Besides the formatting and grammar issues of this bill, there are many points to be made as to why this bill should not be passed. The first is that the feminine hygiene products could be tampered with or contaminated, which is especially a concern during the current Covid-19 pandemic. There was a similar argument to that in opposition to similar legislation proposed to congress by representative Mellisa Sargent in 2015. Sanitation in public restrooms is a common issue, leading about 84% of women to limit their public restroom use according to a study conducted from October to December of 2017, by the Journal of Urology. Although providing feminine hygiene products would be a great convenience, it would not be worth the health risk.
In addition, because the author did not define what constitutes a public restroom (i.e. restaurants, convenience stores, public parks, government buildings, etc.), it is difficult to gauge the cost of implementing this legislation. Assuming that this would apply to all women´s restaurants in businesses, parks, government buildings, etc, would the funding extend to all businesses or just public businesses (such as parks and government buildings)? Would the tax-write of policy extend to them (small businesses)? Would these other businesses be covered, or would they be expended to pay out of pocket for these products? The latter would be very expensive, as the expenditure of US women in 2017 alone on feminine hygiene products was $5.9 billion, according to Global Industry Analysts as cited in USA Today. This would put yet another expense on already struggling small businesses.
Pads and tampons are not the only items deemed ‘necessary’. Other necessary items include diapers, food, water, clothing, etc, yet they are not offered for free. Toilet paper is offered in public restrooms, but it is of very low quality and is very cheap. It is reasonable to expect the same to be of pads and tampons provided by public restrooms. Unless the bill was amended to require a certain brand or quality of supplies, there would be nothing preventing these businesses from providing the lowest-quality product possible in order to reduce their businesses’ costs. There are some negative side effects of menstrual products that are magnified by using said low-quality products. According to Penny Hitchcock, the head of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Nancy Alexander, chief of the Contraceptive Development Branch in the National Insitute of Health Center for Population Research, these products are often chemically based. These chemicals irritate and potentially damage the vaginal and rectal epithelial cells. This can potentially increase the “transmission of STIs such as herpes and human immunodeficiency virus.” Bacterial and yeast infections are also a major concern.
As previously stated, there are other products deemed necessary that are not offered for free. The passage of this bill would set a precedent for other mandatory products to come cost-free. This would cause much controversy and damage their respective industries.
This issue of necessity is also a large factor. According to the same study by the Journal of Urology as previously referenced, 79% of women purposely avoid public restrooms for various reasons. Decreasing the number of people this bill would assist causes the necessity and importance of the bill to hinder. Birth control also plays a factor in the need for menstrual products. According to Mayo Clinic’s article ‘Birth control pill FAQ: Benefits, risks, and choices’ there are birth control pill regimens designed to prevent bleeding for three months at a time or for as long as a year.” Periods can often be prevented as well with continuous use of any birth control pill. According to the CDC, 14.0% of 15 to 49-year-old women in the US are currently using birth control (2021). This is about 23,511,817 women [14% of the population of women in the US, which was 167,941,551 as of 12/31/2020]. These figures being considered reduces the effectiveness of this bill.
If the intended target for this bill was public restrooms as in state buildings, this bill is redundant. That is because Governor Tony Evers mandated that free feminine hygiene products be provided in all women’s restrooms in the Wisconsin State Capitol, in addition to other state buildings. Some other buildings in which menstrual product dispensers were installed consist of the State Agriculture Building, Risser Justice Center, State Labor Building, Hill Farms State Office, Tommy G. Thompson Center, State Laboratory of Hygiene, and the State National Resouces Building. This is also irrelevant because similar legislation has been introduced to Congress, such as Rep. Melissa [Sergeant] Agard’s bill in 2015.
Lastly, the penalties are very excessive, yet do not achieve their ultimate goal of having feminine products available in every bathroom. The bill states that “Public entities that refuse to add dispensers to restrooms will be fined $500.” It does not state that the dispensers would be mandated/forced to be added. It rather provides an obscure fine. It would have also been helpful if the author had stated where the money from said fines would go to. Would it go back into funding the feminine products, for example?
Although I applaud the author’s intent on this bill, there are too many flaws to go unnoticed. Perhaps a more effective way to reach the author’s ultimate goal of making feminine hygiene products more available to the public would be to lobby for and support the current legislation in the Wisconsin State Congress to remove the sales tax on feminine hygiene products. In conclusion, I urge you to vote “con” on this bill. This is because of the logistics of how the bill was written, the potential for contamination, the bill’s lack of clear definitions, quality of products, the precedent it would set, the debatable necessity, the redundancy of the bill, and the issue with the penalty. Although there is a need for change, this is not the bill to accomplish it.
Works Cited
- Beck, Molly. “Wisconsin Capitol, State Buildings to Provide Free Feminine Hygiene Products in Restrooms under Evers Mandate.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3 Dec. 2019, www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/03/tony-evers-mandates-free-feminine-hygiene-products-state-restrooms/2595593001/.
- Countrymeters.info. “United States of America (USA) Population.” Countrymeters, countrymeters.info/en/United_States_of_America_(USA).
- “FastStats – Contraceptive Use.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 Nov. 2020, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/contraceptive.htm.
- Jessie Opoien | The Capital Times. “Wisconsin Lawmaker Proposes Free Tampons, Pads in Public Restrooms.” Madison.com, 9 Nov. 2015, madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-lawmaker-proposes-free-tampons-pads-in-public-restrooms/article_52cc0d48-fbb9-5bb7-ba19-d2268bb1092a.html.
- Mayo Clinic Staff. “Birth Control Pill FAQ: Benefits, Risks and Choices.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 25 May 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/birth-control/in-depth/birth-control-pill/art-20045136#:~:text=There%20are%20birth%20control%20pill,away%20on%20a%20new%20pack.
- Nicole, Wendee. “A Question for Women’s Health: Chemicals in Feminine Hygiene Products and Personal Lubricants.” Environmental Health Perspectives, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Mar. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3948026/.
- Reynolds, W Stuart, et al. “Women’s Perceptions of Public Restrooms and the Relationships with Toileting Behaviors and Bladder Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Study.” The Journal of Urology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7354199/.
- “The Ultimate Guide to Feminine Hygiene.” Duquesne University School of Nursing, 3 Dec. 2019, onlinenursing.duq.edu/master-science-nursing/the-ultimate-guide-to-feminine-hygiene/.
- Vetterkind, Riley. “State to Provide Free Menstrual Products in Women’s Restrooms.” Madison.com, 4 Dec. 2019, madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/state-to-provide-free-menstrual-products-in-womens-restrooms/article_57769011-49a7-5e3e-a86c-c1b17cbfea25.html.