Republican Gov. Christy Noem ducked and dodged Sunday morning when asked if South Dakota would force a raped 10-year-old to give birth — ultimately suggesting that the “tragic situation” should not change her state’s restrictive abortion laws.
“The law today is that abortions are illegal except to save the life of the mother,” Noem told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Bash had pressed Noem about the case of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was denied an abortion because three days had passed of the state’s six-week abortion ban. The girl had to travel to Indiana for the procedure, according to the Indianapolis Star.
“Since this was a trigger law that was passed before you became governor, I want you to be aware, is the state of South Dakota going to force a 10-year-old in the same situation in the future to have a baby?” Bash asked.
Noem began by avoiding the direct question, instead focusing on the little girl’s rapist.
“What’s amazing is that no one is talking about the perverted, horrible, deranged individual who raped a 10-year-old child,” Noem said. “What are we doing about it?”
Bash agreed with her, but pointed out that ultimately women are the ones who get pregnant. She then went on to press the governor — who recently signed an executive order banning telemedicine abortions as part of the state’s total abortion ban — on whether it was “okay for a 10-year-old girl to have a baby.”
“No, I never agree with that. This story will keep me up at night. It breaks my heart,” Noem replied.
Bash tried again, asking if she would “change the law to have an exception for a situation like this?”
“I can’t even imagine. What I would say is that I don’t believe that a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy,” Noem concluded. “So there’s one more thing we need to do to make sure we really live a life that says every life is precious, especially the lives of innocent people who have been broken like that 10-year-old girl.”
South Dakota was one of 13 states to impose a “trigger law” banning abortion immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed abortion rights, and Noem continued to try to twist South Dakota’s decisions by ad state resources to support pregnancy, whether wanted or not.
Bash concluded his questioning by asking Noem — who has not been quiet about her political aspirations, even though her star has faded with the rise of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the simple question: “Former President Trump could announce his candidacy as early as this month . If he does, would you support him and want to be his teammate?’
“I think there are a lot of people who would like to be his teammate. “I don’t operate in the hypothetical,” Noem conceded. “I’d be shocked if he asked, and I’m so focused on South Dakota right now.”
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