South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem talked with Dana Bash on State of the Union on Sunday, and the news of the 10-year-old child that got pregnant but was refused an abortion in Ohio because she was 6 weeks and three days pregnant was discussed. Now, Noem likes to pretend that she has empathy for women who want to end their pregnancies for various reasons, and recently, she has said that her state will support them. That's not true, though. The Republican governor opposes Medicaid expansion in her state, and that's something that would help new mothers and children. Or women that their rapist impregnated.
"Will South Dakota going forward, force a 10-year-old in that very same situation to have a baby?" Bash asked.
"What's incredible is that nobody is talking about the pervert, horrible and deranged individual that raped a 10-year-old. What are we doing about that?" Noem said. "What are we doing about those individuals that do this to these children? As much as we talk about what we can do for that little girl, I think we also need to be addressing those sick individuals that do this to our children."
Nice change of subject there, eh? Finally, she addressed the topic of the 10-year-old.
"I've never had anybody in my family or myself gone through anything like this," Noem said, adding that abortions are illegal in her state unless it's needed to save the life of the mother.
"And you'd be OK with that, a 10-year-old girl having to have a baby?" Bash asked.
"No. I'm never OK with that. In fact, that story will keep me up at night. It absolutely will. It breaks my heart. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother. I've got a 1-year-old little granddaughter," Noem said. "I can't even imagine. What I would say is I don't believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy. There's more that we've 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."
It's clear that Noem doesn't feel it's tragic for a child to be forced to give birth. And honestly, the whole 'pro-life' for the children schtick is revealed (you're not going to believe this) as bullsh*t. I, too, am shocked. Because now conservatives are going after contraceptives, too. It's about control.
