Alma Bejarano, a custodian, locks a newly installed menstrual products dispenser after filling it with Aunt Flow tampons and pads in a women’s restroom in the Mary Gibbs Jones College at Rice University Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Houston. Rice's Menstrual Product Accessibility Program spearheaded an effort to provide free menstrual products in locations around campus. Texas is not among the 21 states that have passed laws to provide the products free at all public K-12 schools.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appears with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

I got my period during my eighth-grade English class. I was 13.

I had forgotten to pack the "in case I got my period" kit that my mother had prepared, so I tied a jacket around my waist to hide my blood-stained pants.

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My teacher, a compassionate woman, gave me a pad from a stash that she had........

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