Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Give Women in Custody Access to Menstrual Hygiene Products
April 5, 2019
Denver, CO – The Colorado State Senate today unanimously voted to advance HB19-1224, Free Menstrual Hygiene Products In Custody, a bill sponsored by Senator Faith Winter (D-Westminster) to provide free menstrual hygiene products to women in custody. The bill now heads to Governor Jared Polis’ desk for his signature.
“Allowing women in custody to access menstrual hygiene products is a basic and necessary human right,” said Senator Winter. “I am pleased that the Senate could come together and take this step to prevent negative health outcomes while treating women with dignity and respect.”
Colorado state prisons are already required to provide menstrual hygiene products, but while some county jails provide limited menstrual hygiene products to people in custody, many still do not. This bill will require local jails, multijurisdictional jails, and municipal jails to provide such products to people in custody at no expense to the people in custody.
HB19-1224 passed the House of Representatives unanimously and represents a bipartisan effort to provide better support to women in custody.For more information about the bill, please visit: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1224.
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