Kristi Noem turns the tables on CNN’s ambush question about abortion-seeking 10-year-old

(Video: CNN)

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem expertly defeated a CNN ambush when she was put on the spot about a 10-year-old girl who was raped and, due to a ban on abortions, had to cross state lines to have the pregnancy terminated, an extreme example that was cherry-picked to portray her in a negative light.

The Republican leader appeared on Sunday’s edition of “State of the Union” to discuss her state’s ban on abortions in the aftermath of the historic Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, prohibitions that went into effect as a result of the state’s trigger law that was passed before she was elected as governor.

Noem was in the process of discussing South Dakota’s website which promotes a message of  “helping mothers and their babies before birth and after” and features educational materials and guidance on pregnancy, parenting, financial assistance, and adoption, when anchor Dana Bash came out of left field with her gotcha question.

“The Indianapolis Star is reporting that 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,” she began, “So, because this is 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’s incredible is that nobody is talking about the pervert, horrible and deranged individual that raped a 10-year-old, and what are we doing about that?” Noem responded.

Noem’s response caught Bash completely off guard and she was visibly rattled after being put into a position where she was forced to agree with the governor who perfectly flipped the script on the anchor who desperately tried to regain her footing.

“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,” Noem added.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Bash said as she regained her composure, “our bodies are our bodies and women are the ones who get pregnant and in this case, it wasn’t a woman, it was a girl. Should she have to have the child? Should she have to have that baby?”

“Every single life is precious,” Noem responded. “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.”

Bash persisted, “And you would be ok with that, a 10-year-old girl having to have a baby?”

“No, I’m never ok with that, in fact, that story will keep me up at night, it absolutely will,” Noem responded.

The governor has strongly emphasized that in South Dakota, mothers seeking abortions will not face punishment but doctors who illegally perform the procedure will be prosecuted.

“And I think we’ll continue to have those debates on how we can support these mothers and what it means to really make sure that we’re not prosecuting mothers ever in a situation like this when it comes to abortion, that it will always be focused towards those doctors who knowingly break the law to perform abortions in our state,” she said during a Sunday morning television appearance last week after the SCOTUS ruling was announced.

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