Wellness Within Calls for Access to Free Menstrual Products and Contraception in Prisons
In recognition of May 28 being World Menstrual Hygiene Day, Wellness Within calls for free access to menstrual products and contraception in prisons. Women are the fastest-growing population in prisons nationally, and access to menstrual products is an essential component of reproductive health care. These products allow menstruating people to maintain personal hygiene, manage menstrual symptoms, and prevent unwanted pregnancies.
The World Health Organization (2010) report on Prisons and Health suggests the importance of access to menstrual products and bathing facilities. Access to contraception has also been deemed a basic human right by the United Nations Population Fund. In Canada, while the law requires menstrual hygiene supplies to be provided in federal prisons, conversations with incarcerated women reveal that there are still serious barriers to adequate access.
A recent report by Martha Paynter, published by the Canadian Association for the Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) includes interviews with people incarcerated in women’s federal prisons across Canada. One stated, “Bring a box! Why don’t they bring a box? You ask for tampons and they bring you three. We don’t want to ask the male staff for tampons.” The 2017 Senate report, Life on the Inside: Human Rights in Canada’s Prisons, found that at one prison, only one type of sanitary pad was provided while tampons had to be purchased. As El Jones reports for the Halifax Examiner, inmates of the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside “have reported coming in with a tampon inserted and having to leave it in for extended lengths of time, or having to resort to stuffing toilet paper in their underwear. Women have also struggled with getting access to clean underwear and other hygiene products. Being forced to bleed on their clothes or be unable to properly wash their bodies is extremely degrading and humiliating and leaves the women feeling ‘like animals.’” Access is particularly limited for those serving weekend sentences.
One in two women who experience incarceration has had an abortion, and on average incarcerated women have had four children. These rates are far higher than the general population. Cost is a significant barrier to people accessing contraception, and these costs are borne inequitably by women, transmen and gender diverse people at risk of unintended pregnancy. For many women, contraception is a also critical tool to manage menstrual symptoms such as pain, fatigue, mood swings, depression, and anxiety.
We demand Canada recognize the rights of incarcerated people and ensure adequate access to reproductive health care, including menstrual products and contraception.
Wellness Within is a volunteer-based registered non-profit organization that serves women, transgender, and nonbinary people who have experienced criminalization and are pregnant or have young children in Nova Scotia, part of the unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
Wellness Within supports people through the full spectrum of reproductive health experience; facilitates workshops and education sessions; develops resource materials; and advocates for reproductive justice issues.
Contact: Dr. Martha Paynter, Director of Research, 9022927082 or martha.paynter@gmail.com