Michigan city becomes first in US to mandate free tampons in public restrooms

The city council of Ann Arbor, Mich., unanimously passed an ordinance this week that requires all public restrooms to provide free sanitary products including pads and tampons, apparently becoming the first city in the U.S. to do so, USA Today reported on Thursday. 

The law, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, applies to all public restrooms under the city plumbing code and has no regard to gender designation. 

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor (D) told USA Today that menstrual products should be accessible for everyone. 

“A high school student came to me to express her concern that persons without established residences had difficulty obtaining menstrual products,” he said. 

“And that got me to thinking over time, there have been some advances with respect to schools, particularly in Illinois and New York in government buildings. California has got one as well. And I asked staff to look and see whether we could obligate at all public restrooms in Ann Arbor provide the supplies because they’re basic and fundamental for people” Taylor added. 

“We can and we did.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) earlier this month signed into law a bill that will remove the sales tax on tampons and other menstrual products. 

Today, I eliminated the tampon tax to lower prices for Michiganders. Repealing this unfair tax has been a long time in the making, but this is the year that we pulled everyone together to get it done. pic.twitter.com/EWYpt5vTWc

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) November 4, 2021