EAST ELMHURST — Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras is pushing to make feminine hygiene products accessible for low-income New Yorkers.
Items such as tampons and sanitary napkins aren't covered by health insurance, public benefit programs or flexible spending accounts, but are still vital, Ferreras said.
The products also aren't exempt from state sales tax.
When she worked at the Beacon Program in Corona, "young girls would skip class because they preferred that to asking staff for pads or risk staining their clothes," Ferreras said on her Facebook page.
"In a city where we hand out free condoms, we should be making essential feminine hygiene products more affordable and accessible," she said in the post.
Ferreras hosted a roundtable addressing the issue on Wednesday along with women's rights advocates including Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, director of special projects at the Brennan Center for Justice.
The councilwoman also told the New York Post she plans to push a bill currently in the assembly that would make toiler paper and feminine hygiene products tax-free.
