Encouraging people to push through their symptoms and pain can mean some don’t seek help and start to believe that pain and excessive bleeding are normal.
, New Jersey is one of 24 states that have a “tampon tax,” which is a sales tax on menstrual products. Some states don’t have a sales tax, meaning no products are taxed, while other states axed their tax on menstrual products. But even purchasing the supplies every month can be expensive.Another proposed bill would devote funds to screening and raising awareness for conditions, such as endometriosis, fibroids and PCOS. This could have a big impact on people in New Jersey.
“There’s very disparate funding when it comes to reproductive health,” Lincoln said. “When you talk about things like endometriosis and fibroids — one in 10 people have endometriosis and depending on your race up to 80% of people can have fibroids. This affects huge populations and if people want to think in terms of money, these issues make people lose work. They lead to mental health disorders. They lead to issues with fertility.
Jaffer said women only make up 35% of the state legislature so sometimes reproductive health has been overlooked. “That means that a lot of times women’s issues haven’t necessarily been the focus,” she said. “Women’s health in general is a priority for me.”“It’s important to center the experiences of women and their health concerns that for too long, they’ve been neglected both in research and policy and culture,” Jaffer said.