Violations of the ordinance, which will go into effect January 1, 2022, will result in a $100 fine, according to the legislation.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, who proposed the ordinance, said “it is a necessity and a long time coming.”
“Access to these items is a matter of personal dignity, a human necessity and a health care right,” Taylor said at the city council meeting Monday.
The idea for this ordinance stems from a conversation Taylor had with a high school student, during which she expressed concern homeless people do not have access to menstrual products, Taylor said.
National nonprofit officials who advocate for increased access to menstrual products believe Ann Arbor is the first city in the United States to pass legislation mandating products beyond municipally-owned buildings.
Michela Bedard, executive director of PERIOD., a nonprofit aiming to end stigma and high costs of menstruation, told CNN, “It’s entirely possible that there is a very small town out there that has made this decision, and they did it without any fanfare or meeting or help with advocacy. But certainly, this is the first major municipality that’s made waves like this.”
Knowing these products will be available in all public restrooms will both ensure inequities caused by menstruating are mitigated, and allow people to live uninhibited lives, said Nancy Kramer, founder of Free The Tampon, an organization promoting restroom equality to business leaders and policymakers.
“It really provides any person who’s been menstruating a peace of mind that they currently don’t have,” Kramer said. “And it just helps us not have a level of potential embarrassment or humiliation.”
A long time coming
Advocates and organizers pushing for reduced costs and stigma around menstrual products told CNN momentum has been building to what Bedard called this “tide-changing” decision over the last several years, as local and state governments took steps to increase access to these products.
“We hope that this trickles up and one day in our lifetimes we are going to realize that these products need to be everywhere, need to be accessible,” Bedard said.
At the federal level, menstrual equality organizers have seen both wins and loses in recent years.
“This is a crisis that has been completely overlooked in our country — and it’s nearing its expiration,” Bedard said. “This is going to be normalized in the next few years and in order to deal with the systemic reasons for this, we need to change this at a policy level.”