A new policy from Virginia’s Department of Corrections that would have required visitors to remove tampons and menstrual cups when visiting the state’s prison inmates was suspended on Tuesday after backlash emerged.

“A number of concerns have been raised about the new procedure,” Brian J. Moran, Virginia’s secretary of public safety and homeland security, said on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. The policy would not have taken effect until Oct. 6, but even so, he said, “I feel it appropriate to immediately suspend the newly developed policy until a more thorough review of its implementation and potential consequences are considered.”

A spokeswoman for the corrections department, Lisa Kinney, said in an email that there have been “many instances” where visitors have attempted to smuggle drugs by concealing them in a body cavity, including the vagina.

Under the policy, prison facilities had planned to offer pads as an alternative to visitors who were wearing tampons, Ms. Kinney said. Visitors also would have been permitted to instead wear a pad brought from home, she added.