Kristi Noem confronted on CNN over pregnant 10-year-old girl's inability to get an abortion
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) was put on the spot during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" when the anti-abortion Republican was asked about a pregnant 10-year-old Ohio girl's inability to get an abortion in her state.
What followed was Noem expressing outrage about how the child got pregnant which then forced host Dana Bash to ask her to stick to the question and address the abortion issue.
"The Indianapolis Star is reporting a 10-year-old girl in Ohio, who is six weeks and three days pregnant, now has to travel across state lines to Indiana to receive an abortion," Bash began. "Because this was a trigger law that was passed before you became governor, I want you to be clear, will the state of South Dakota going forward force a 10-year-old in that very same situation to have a baby?"
"What is incredible, Dana, in this tragic story, because I heard about this last night, what is incredible is no one is talking about the pervert, horrible, deranged individual that raped a 10-year-old. What are we doing about that?" the GOP governor parried.
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"I couldn't agree more but our bodies are our bodies and women are the ones who get pregnant. In this case, it wasn't a woman, it was a girl," Bash pressed.
"Every single life is precious," Noem offered. "This tragedy is horrific. I can't even imagine. I've never had anybody in my family or myself gone through anything like this. I can't even imagine. But in South Dakota, the law today is that the abortions are illegal except to save the life of the mother."
"You would be okay with a 10-year-old girl having to have a baby," the CNN host persisted.
"No, I'm never okay with that. That story will keep me up at night. It breaks my heart," Noem replied.
"Will you change the law to have an exception for a situation like that?" she was asked.
"I can't even imagine," Noem replied. "I would say I don't believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy. There's more we have to do to make sure we are living a life to say every life is precious, especially innocent lives that have been shattered like that 10-year-old girl."
"It's incredibly complicated, I get it," Bash pressed. "But I guess my question is, given how heartbroken you seem to be about the situation, maybe the question is this, because what I keep thinking about is, how is a 10-year-old girl physically, probably can't even carry a baby without being, never mind emotionally and physically tormented, but physically hurt. Would you consider that mother's life at risk?"
"That's something in that situation the doctor, the family, the individuals closest to that will make the decision for that family," she replied.
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