Our state can lead by taking menopause policy seriously

Gov. Gavin Newsom can demonstrate and articulate that menopause belongs squarely in the pro-democracy discourse

- JENNIFER WEISS-WOLF GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

AB 432, awaiting Newsom's signature or veto, would address two key needs: affordability of care (requiring health insurance plans to cover menopause treatments) and quality of care.

AMONG THE MANY audiences Gov. Gavin Newsom has provoked lately, one cohort is particularly fired up: menopausal women.

I know I felt a rush of adrenaline (or perhaps it was a hot flash?) when I saw actor Halle Berry take to Instagram this week to demand the governor make menopause a public policy priority.

From Hollywood to Capitol Hill, menopause continues to be having a moment. But no entity has succeeded more than state lawmakers in transforming all the buzzy headlines into meaningful action.

Earlier this summer, CNN and NPR declared a "national movement" for menopause legislative activity, reporting a record 15 states introducing upward of two dozen bills as of July. So rapid and robust was this agenda, the digital news outlet Axios dubbed menopause policy "the new tampon tax" — another seemingly out-of-the-blue but wildly popular reform that swept through statehouses in recent years. (California is one of 22 states that has repealed sales tax on menstrual products over the last decade.)