Sunday 3 July 2022 06:42 PM Noem on child rape victims getting abortions: 'A tragic situation should not ... trends now
Kristi Noem said Sunday that she won't let 'the tragedy' of children getting pregnant through rape lead to another tragedy in her state by allowing cases like these to lead to abortion.
'Every single life is precious,' the GOP South Dakota governor told CNN's Dana Bash when asked if a 'child' should have to give birth. 'This tragedy is horrific. I can't even imagine.'
'I don't believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy,' Noem added.
'And so there's more that we have got to do to make sure that we really are living a life that says every life is precious, especially innocent lives that have been shattered, like that 10-year-old girl,' she said during her interview on State of the Union Sunday morning.
The response came after trigger laws went into effect in 13 states following the Roe v. Wade overturn and a heartbreaking case of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio needing to travel over state lines to terminate her pregnancy after she was raped.
South Dakota is one of the states with these so-called trigger laws.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said Sunday that she would not let 'a tragic situation perpetuate another tragedy' by letting a 10-year-old who got pregnant by rape get an abortion
GOP Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who served with Noem in the House, said that she is not the same person that she was pre-Trump endorsement.
'I served with Kristi Noem in the House, and it's like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers,' he told Bash in his own interview Sunday morning.
'This is not the Kristi Noem I served with,' he added. 'The Kristi Noem I served with was conservative, dedicated to truth, and I at the time would have thought would have put her country above her political career at any moment.'
'Look, Dana, it is clear she is running for president or vice president,' he added. 'She's scared to death of the base… She used to be something very different.'
Noem is a pro-Trump Republican and claimed Sunday that the issue of this particular case needs to be focusing on the criminal who raped a 10-year-old girl.
In South Dakota there is an exception for their abortion ban for when the life of the mother is in danger if she carries out her pregnancy. CNN host Dana Bashed asked if allowing a young child to receive an abortion would be protecting her life considering the physical and and mental consequences giving birth could cause.
She conceded on this point and lauded how different states could have different laws.
'Yes, that situation, the doctor, the family, the individuals closest to that will make the decisions there for that family,' Noem told Bash. 'That's what's interesting about the time we live in right now, is every state will have different laws on the books.'
'The decisions will be made by the legislators that are closest to the people,' she added. 'That's appropriate. It's the way our Constitution intended. And I think that South Dakota's laws may look very different than California's, may look very different than New York's, where that governor has said she wants to become a destination known for providing abortions.'
Thirteen states passed trigger laws to restrict or ban abortion in the event Roe v. Wade was overturned
'That's not our story here in South Dakota. And I think every governor, every state will make a very different decision on what their laws look like.'
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last Friday, which immediately ended federal
