The Spanish government on Tuesday approved a reform of the Abortion Law to allow women on menstrual leave to stay home with no set deadline for returning to work. Menstrual leave is to apply to women who have intense cramps due to their menstrual period that prevent them from leading a normal life.

"The leaves will be paid in full by Social Security from the first moment, and will have no limit of days," writes CNN Portugal.

To enjoy this fundamental right, "incapacitated" women must present a control medical diagnosis that proves their health situation.

The bill includes incapacitating sick leave due to menstrual pain, prenatal leave from the 39th week, and mandatory sex education. The implementation of the measures will cost approximately 104 million euros.

Thus, Spain becomes the first European country to consider menstruation as part of the fundamental right to health.

"It will no longer be a taboo, and we have regulated for the first time in Spain, and we are the first country in Europe, that will recognize a disability" for painful periods, said Spanish Equality Minister Irene Montero.

She explained that with this approval women who have painful experiences during their menstrual period will no longer have to resort to drugs to try to stop the pain and then report to work.

Intimate hygiene products will maintain the VAT of 10%, but a % campaign is planned to combat "menstrual poverty" with the distribution of intimate kits in schools and the like.

The agreement reached by the Government is only the first step. The document is a draft law that will have to go through a long bureaucratic process before it is approved, and this could take several months.