For those who menstruate, sometimes that time of the month when you discover you’ve gotten your period catches you by surprise. Or, maybe you’ve forgotten, or simply don’t have, any menstrual products with you. It can be a headache on top of the headache you may be already having.

Some of that stress could be relieved by a new bill passed unanimously by the D.C. Council Tuesday that requires all D.C. schools and colleges to provide free menstrual products in women’s and gender-neutral bathrooms. The bill also requires D.C. Public Schools to implement a menstrual health curriculum for students starting in fourth grade.

“Young women, girls, transgender, and gender non-conforming students need access to free menstrual products,” Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto said in a statement. “We have seen the associated costs and burdens of accessing these products fall disproportionately on young women of color and low-income families.”

At least 35 states collectively make over $150 million annually in sales taxes from menstrual products, according to the New York Times. Based on a calculator built by Dominika Miszewska, a medical student, and Julia Żuławińska, a biophysics student, the average women spends $9 a month on their period. According to Marie Claire, the District removed its tampon and diaper tax in 2016.  In Maryland, menstrual products are tax free and considered medical products. In 2019, Virginia lowered the tampon tax and tried to eliminate it during the 2020 session, but the bill failed in committee.

The cost burden of these products make them difficult to come by for those who are low income. According to research commissioned by Thinx, a company that sells period underwear, and PERIOD, a non-profit organizations that spreads awareness about the cost of menstruating, one in five teens in the U.S. struggles to afford menstrual products and four of five missed or knew someone who missed class because they did not have access to period products.

During the pandemic, the need for menstrual products was only amplified, according to Shelby Davies, a fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Adolescent Medicine.

“In spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut down access to many services, I was approached by a colleague about a patient who badly needed menstrual products but could not afford them,” Davies told CHOP’s Policy Lab. She said the girl’s family didn’t have enough money to buy pads and she had become dependent on the pads provided by her school.

“I was saddened to learn that there were so few local organizations that could offer assistance,” Davies said.

The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act made menstrual products eligible for flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts, but does not help uninsured individuals gain access to reduced costs on menstrual products.