Period Poverty Bill passes stage 1
Monica Lennon's member's bill to ensure free provision of period products for women has passed its first stage in the Scottish Parliament.
MSPs voted 115 to nil, with one abstention, to approve the general principles of the bill, which would enact a duty to ensure free universal access to period products for anyone who needs them.
The abstention was SNP member James Dornan, convener of the Local Government & Communities Committee, which by a majority declined to support the bill on grounds of uncertainty as to cost and as to how the bill would work in practice.
Since its report was published, the SNP and Conservatives have both switched to join the other parties in backing the bill, but their members continued to warn, as did Mr Dornan, that substantial amendment would be necessary "to make it anything like workable".
Summing up the debate, Ms Lennon said: "Agreeing to the general principles of the bill will be a milestone moment for normalising menstruation in Scotland and will send out a signal to people in the country about how seriously the Parliament takes gender equality. We have more work to do but, together, we can put Scotland on the map as a true world leader in period dignity and equality."