“They’re as necessary as toilet paper”

NEW YORK — New York City is on track to become the nation’s first city to require free tampons and sanitary pads in public schools, homeless shelters and jails after lawmakers approved the idea Tuesday amid a national discussion of the costs of having a period.

The proposal, which Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration supports, marks a new direction in activists’ push to dismantle what they see as unfair financial barriers, especially sales tax, between women and needed sanitary products. New York state lawmakers voted last month to become the sixth state to do so.

City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland’s proposal would make pads and tampons entirely free in restrooms that serve 300,000 schoolgirls, and it would guarantee the products’ availability to 23,000 women in homeless shelters and add the force of law to jail standards about sanitary supplies.

Supporters say New York would be the nation’s first city to make that the law in such a wide range of locales rather than leaving the issue to more changeable policy.

“They’re as necessary as toilet paper,” so they ought to be just as freely available, Ferreras-Copeland, a Democrat, said before Tuesday’s 49-0 vote.

During the discussion, the council’s female speaker waved a wrapped tampon aloft in the spirit of bringing a once-taboo subject into the open. Even a male lawmaker who found the subject a bit uncomfortable praised the proposal.

It’s unclear when the mayor will take up the measure, which would provide an estimated 2 million tampons and 3.5 million pads per year in shelters alone. Once dispensers are installed, it’s expected to cost about $2.5 million annually in the city’s $82 billion budget.