Researchers 'Surprised' at 'Period Poverty' Among Youth

The Parents portal recently called it "the one back-to-school item teens shouldn't have to buy"—and while many agree that kids should have easy access to period products (think tampons, maxi pads, menstrual cups, etc.), a significant number of them don't. Citing new research from DC's Children's National Hospital, NBC News reports that about a third of teens and young adults in the US don't have that access, either because the products are too expensive or for other reasons. Scientists arrived at their data after surveying more than 1,800 youth between the ages of 13 and 21 who'd shown up at the hospital's ER during the first six months or so of this year.

The subjects in the study, which hasn't yet been peer reviewed, were said to be experiencing "period poverty"—the NIH defines the term as "the lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products during monthly periods and inaccessibility to basic sanitation services or facilities as well as menstrual hygiene education"—if over the past year they'd either not had the funds to buy menstrual products or otherwise had to resort to using rags or tissues. Nearly 600 of the respondents, or 33%, reported period poverty. "We were really surprised by how widespread of an issue this is," researcher Monika Goyal, co-director of the hospital's Center for Translational Research, tells NBC.

Those who go through this can suffer everything from urinary tract and vaginal infections, to skipping school or other activities due to the lack of access. The case has long been made that menstrual products should be made available for free in schools, and both blue and red states were starting to make inroads on that front—until anti-transgender legislation across the US "made a health issue political," per nonprofit newsroom The 19th. At least eight states do have some form of legislation providing for free menstrual products in school, including Minnesota, California, and Illinois. In the meantime, Goyal tells NBC that pediatricians should ask more in-depth questions of young menstruating patients to better assist them. "Women's health in general has been deprioritized," she says. (More menstruation stories.)