At least, according to the NDGOP

The North Dakota legislature recently advanced bills that would make diapers exempt from sales tax, along with materials used to construct or expand coal processing facilities. Tampons and other feminine hygiene products, however, didn’t make the cut.

While it’s nice to see the ND Republican party doing “pro-life” work that isn’t just shitting on people who get abortions, the fact that the exemption for diapers passed and tampons didn’t really doesn’t give the vibe that they care about women who aren’t bearing children. I think exempting things like diapers from sales tax is awesome, and I’m glad that bill passed. That should have happened a long time ago, and it’s an important step forward in the fight to stop economically penalizing pregnant people for having kids. 

That being said, it’s absurd that the only exemption that didn’t pass was tampons. Coal is the most polluting of all the fossil fuels and the Earth is rapidly being choked by this very pollution, but ND representatives subsidized coal processing over women living normal lives. There’s no excuse for not making tampons tax-exempt, especially because I know for a fact that if ND women decided to start free-bleeding instead, not a single Republican would be happy about it. North Dakota is one of only 22 states that still taxes feminine hygiene products, despite the majority of Americans opposing the tax. 

Passing exemptions for women who decide to have children, but not passing exemptions for women who don’t – or even women who do have kids, but aren’t actively pregnant – is not a good look. It almost implies that the NDGOP isn’t trying to look out for women, but is instead trying to look out for women who don’t get abortions. Nevermind the hundreds of thousands of people menstruating every day, for whom hygiene products are already incredibly expensive, regardless of their reproductive choices. 

I think it’s awesome that diapers are going to be tax-exempt. I also think it’s a disgrace that coal processing is on that list, but tampons aren’t. Of all the proposed items to be submitted for tax exemption, tampons were the only one who didn’t make it. House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, stated that he voted against tax-free tampons because, “Where do you draw the line?” Not at active pollution, apparently. Just at women living their lives with the hygiene items necessary for free female participation in American society.