Liberia, June 18 -- A pack of four costs L$100, about 50 U.S. cents. She cuts each diaper in two and uses the halves as sanitary pads. If she does not have money for that, she uses clothes.

"The diapers are not like pads," W said. "Sometimes they leak. Cloth can smell. But I don't have a choice."

Her choice is at the center of a policy fight now before Liberia's Legislature. A bill introduced by Grand Bassa County Representative Thomas A. Goshua seeks to reduce the cost of menstrual products by removing taxes. Advocates say girls are missing school while lawmakers sit on the bill. ActionAid Liberia, the local chapter of the global women's rights organization, said more than three in five girls in rural and semi-urban communities lack b...