PERIOD poverty has become a national issue that Scottish society must no longer ignore, MSPs have been told.

In a Holyrood debate last night, it was warned that there is growing anecdotal evidence that a significant number of women are struggling to pay for items such as tampons and sanitary towels due to extreme deprivation, with their health and education put at risk as a result. Others are forced to offer sex to abusive partners in exchange for hygiene products, it was claimed.

Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour's inequalities spokeswoman, called for politicians to unite and "rise to the challenge", raising a scheme recently adopted in New York which has seen girls and vulnerable women given feminine hygiene products for free.

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She said: "What use is a free prescription for period pain relief, if low pay and insecure zero-hour contracts are forcing menstruating women to stuff their pants with toilet paper?

"What difference will the Attainment Challenge make if you are a girl sitting in class with the embarrassment of a saturated sanitary towel between your legs? Should we really say ‘try a foodbank’ to a mother and her daughters fleeing domestic violence?"

Ms Lennon, who brought the debate to Holyrood after winning cross-party backing, repeated calls for the Scottish Government to embark on a comprehensive study on the accessibility and affordability of feminine hygiene products.

SNP MSP Gillian Martin said she had been "shocked" to learn from a worker who supports domestic abuse victims in Aberdeen that many women were denied access to period products by their partner.

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She added: "The officer told me many women don't have access to products because of a range of abusive behaviours, like prohibiting their purchase or use, rationing their availability to control the movement of their partner, or giving access to a range of hygiene products only in exchange for sex, or simply keeping a woman from accessing her own money."

Aileen Campbell, the public health minister, said the Scottish Government is making efforts to tackle poverty so that "nobody in Scotland is struggling to afford day-to-day essentials which for woman includes sanitary products."

She added: "Me and a whole host of other ministers are interested in this... I remain keen to explore what more can be done to tackle this gendered inequality within the limitations of the current settlement."