Should period products be part of Title IX? The Education Department is weighing input.

The Education Department said it will consider whether access to period products should be mandated under Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools. 

That's a reversal from about a month ago when the agency told USA TODAY it's not their call whether a federally funded school chooses to provide these supplies.

“The Department is committed to ensuring Title IX addresses the full scope of sex discrimination that occurs in schools," said Catherine Lhamon, head of the Education Department's civil rights arm. "We look forward to evaluating all feedback we have received to date regarding our proposed rule issued last June."

The shift is significant given the recent ramp-up in advocacy by students for menstrual equity.

Period products aren't free or accessible in schools: Students want to change that

Their campaign for intervention has become more urgent. Federal legislation reintroduced by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., H.R. 3614, which would in part give states "the option to use federal grant funds to provide students with free menstrual products in schools," is unlikely to advance in the current lame duck session of Congress or the next Congress, when the House will be led by Republicans.

The Education Department is revising a previous set of Title IX rules created by the Trump administration that critics argue give more rights to the accused in cases of sexual misconduct. The Biden administration's proposed rules expand rights for transgender and nonbinary students.

What is period poverty?

Advocates and students are pushing for state and local legislation that requires schools to provide free and accessible period products in school bathrooms and locker rooms. Some students, especially those in high-poverty areas, face difficulties accessing those products.

Recent studies show students with periods are more likely to miss school than others. And legislation is a patchwork across the country: About 20 states and jurisdictions require schools to provide period products to some extent.

Some advocates argue mandates should go further than the state and local levels. They want a federal rule on providing pads, tampons and other menstrual products.

More: On Period Action Day, 1 in 4 struggle to buy menstrual products. 22 states still tax them.

"Menstruation isn’t clearly written in Title IX," said Claire Coder, CEO of the company Aunt Flow, which works with students and school leaders to get period dispensers in their school bathrooms. "Yet if you don’t have access and you're menstruating, there are challenges to going to school."

What happens if a school doesn’t comply with Title IX? Not a whole lot.

What do advocates and opponents say?

One comment from a collective of law professors from across the nation asked the Education Department to include discrimination that's based on 'menstruation or related conditions'" as something schools must pay attention to.

"Along with public health colleagues, who submitted a separate comment from their perspective, my fellow law professor signatories and I believe that Title IX has a critical role to play in reducing menstrual stigma and combatting menstruation-related discrimination in America’s schools," Marcy L. Karin, a law professor at the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia, wrote in an email to USA TODAY.

Karin said she organized the letter to encourage the Education Department "to affirmatively acknowledge this reality and clarify menstruators’ rights to an education free from sex discrimination."

A separate comment in support from public health experts and practitioners similarly proposes an amendment to the law.

"The continued absence of menstruation within current regulations perpetuates discrimination on the basis of sex and will continue to have negative impacts on the lives of students/learners and those providing and contributing to their educational experiences," the comment reads.

Opinion: Focus on dangers of campus sexual violence in Biden review of Trump-era Title IX changes

At the same time, some comments from opponents concerned about the Biden administration's proposal to include protections for transgender and nonbinary students said they worry that will extend to menstruation products. One person said they fear schools will put period product dispensers in boys’ restrooms.

"If this were to be the case, I would have no choice but to protect my children’s safety by promptly removing them from all public school programs," the comment reads, in response to additional LGBTQ-related protections for students  "It is also a bald-faced lie, as we have seen from the state of Oregon, which has already spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars installing menstrual dispensers in men’s restrooms in just a handful of schools."

When will a decision on mandating period products be made?

There's "no update on timing" about when the department will release its new Title IX rule, said Vanessa Harmoush, a spokeswoman for the Education Department. The Education Department for months has been reviewing more than 200,000 comments – mostly addressing LGBTQ rights, and school sexual misconduct – on the Biden administration's proposed regulations.

More: How schools will treat sexual misconduct is changing. Who's saying what about Title IX?

Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kaylajjimenez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should period products be included in Title IX? A review is underway.