Jul 6, 2024 3 min read

Today it’s tampons. Tomorrow, it’s the hammer and sickle.

That’s the conclusion of state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, a Republican from Clinton County. In remarks that garnered national attention, Borowicz asserted in a debate on the House floor last month that making free feminine hygiene products available in Pennsylvania schools represented “just another step by (Gov. Josh Shapiro) and Democrats to provide everything for you, which leads to communism. A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take everything away.”

First, many, many things over the decades have been pinpointed as gateways to communism, from Social Security to the Beatles, and now feminine hygiene products can join that pantheon. It should also be noted that summoning up the communist boogeyman in today’s world is, well, kind of odd. The Berlin Wall crumbled 35 years ago, and communism has retreated to outposts like Cuba and Laos in the decades since. It’s 2024, not 1954.

So, we can state with complete confidence that making feminine hygiene products available in schools at no cost will not lead to Pennsylvanians being herded into dreary housing blocks and forced to address one another as “comrade.” We should also point out that the proposal is a pretty good idea.

The House ultimately approved a measure to create a grant program to provide tampons and pads to students by a 117-to-85, and now it is being considered by the state Senate. The cost of the program would be about $3 million, and if it becomes law, Pennsylvania would join 27 other states and the District of Columbia that makes the products available in schools. The Shapiro administration says it would bridge a divide in women’s health care that most often impacts low-income girls or young women of color.

Shapiro explained, “There are girls in Pennsylvania missing school because they don’t have access to period products. That’s unfair – that’s why (first lady Lori Shapiro) has advocated for this issue and I included it in my budget proposal.”

Debra Bogen, the commonwealth’s secretary of health, said that “providing menstrual hygiene products for students will positively impact public health in Pennsylvania.”

It’s not something that’s grabbed headlines, but “period poverty” is an actual issue. It’s estimated that about 20% of girls nationally come from households that have a hard time affording feminine hygiene products. Some girls have missed school or other activities as a result, and it has impeded their ability to learn. In some cases, they have been forced to turn to less sanitary alternatives.

State Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, a Democrat from York, put it this way: “The truth we need to broadcast loudly and often is that having a period isn’t shameful or unclean, and it’s not something you should feel obligated to hide.”