As backpacks fill with notebooks, calculators, and lunchboxes this back-to-school season, there’s one item missing from many students’ essentials: menstrual products.
A study presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 National Conference has shed new light on a hidden but urgent issue—period poverty, or the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and education. The findings are alarming: nearly 1 in 3 teens (32.9%) who visited a pediatric emergency department reported experiencing period poverty in the past year.
This isn’t just a statistic. It’s a signal that thousands of students are starting school days distracted, uncomfortable, or even staying home—not because they’re unmotivated or unwell, but because they don’t have access to pads or tampons.
What Is Period Poverty?
Period poverty affects an estimated 16.9 million people in the U.S., including 25% of adolescents. It means using alternatives like rags, paper towels, or toilet paper when products are unavailable. It means choosing between food and menstrual supplies. And it often means missing school and/or work, falling behind, or risking health issues like urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis.
This latest study used responses from over 1,800 teens (ages 13–21) who visited an emergency department and completed a health screening. The research looked for connections between period poverty and factors like race, insurance status, and neighborhood opportunity (via the Child Opportunity Index)—and found something startling: Period poverty affects teens across the board—regardless of race, income level, or zip code.
What Does This Mean for Students?
Let’s be clear: missing school because of your period is not just inconvenient—it’s unjust.
Education is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong success. But how can students focus on algebra or essay writing when they’re worried about bleeding through their clothes? How can they attend class if they’re home, unable to manage their period safely and with dignity?
This is a back-to-school issue. A mental health issue. A gender equity issue. And most of all, a public health issue.
What Can Be Done?
The study’s authors are calling for straightforward, powerful solutions:
- Provide free menstrual products in public places like schools, emergency departments, and community centers.
- Eliminate the tampon tax: 18 states still tax tampons and pads, treating menstrual products as luxuries.
- Normalize menstrual education to reduce shame and stigma.
- Ensure products are available during all healthcare visits, especially in places like pediatric emergency departments.
How You Can Help
Back-to-school prep shouldn’t include worrying about basic hygiene. Here’s how you can be part of the solution:
- Donate period products to your local school or youth organization
- Ask your school board what’s being done to provide free menstrual products in restrooms
- Support legislation aimed at menstrual equity and tax reform
- Talk about it. Breaking the silence is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Final Thoughts
When we talk about leveling the playing field for students, we must include menstrual health in the conversation. One in three teens shouldn’t be walking into school worried about whether they’ll have what they need to manage a normal biological function.
Let’s make this back-to-school season a time of progress. Period.
Because no student should have to choose between their education and their dignity.
Sources: Alliance for Period Supplies, Journal of Adolescent Health, American Academy of Pediatrics
