Rally For Menstrual Rights, Period Day To Be Held In Princeton

PRINCETON, NJ — A rally supporting women's menstrual rights on National Period Day will be held in Princeton on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Youth activists from the PERIOD movement chapters at Princeton, Moorestown, Rowan University, Rutgers, Notre Dame HS, and Newark Academy will host the rally at Hinds Plaza in Princeton from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

The rallies will mark a single day of organized effort across all 50 states to demand legislators address taxation of menstruation products, according to Ivy Xie, a member of the Newark chapter.

"Members of the Menstrual Movement believe that it is a fundamental human right to have access to menstrual hygiene. Currently, 35 states in the US still have a sales tax on period products considering them luxury items, while products for men’s sexual health such as Viagra are considered essential goods," stated Xie.

The average woman will spend an average of $11,000 in their lifetime on tampons, and one in four women struggled to afford period products in the last year, due to a lack of income, according to period.org.

The most recent city-based study on period poverty revealed that "46 percent of women had to choose between food and menstrual hygiene products," according to period.org.

During the rally, chapters are calling for two major actions: for clean and healthy period products to be freely accessible in schools, shelters, and prisons, and for the elimination of sales tax on menstrual products.

For more information or to find other rallies visit: nationaleriodday.com.

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