South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed an executive order Tuesday to tighten restrictions around abortion in the Mount Rushmore State. The popular Republican directed her State Department of Health to establish rules preventing telemedicine pregnancy termination.
Today, I signed an Executive Order preventing telemedicine abortions in South Dakota.
The Biden Administration is working right now to make it easier to end the life of an unborn child via telemedicine abortion. That is not going to happen in South Dakota. pic.twitter.com/sFWaLIYzmF
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) September 7, 2021
Currently, South Dakota doctors are required to examine a pregnant woman before scheduling an abortion. Women must then wait three days before the procedure. The law also mandates that abortions after the first trimester occur in a hospital and totally outlaws abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy — unless deemed a medical emergency.
After being bullied by Planned Parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration loosened restrictions around telemedicine, extending it to allow abortion services.
Noem will no longer accept this nonsense.
“The Biden Administration is continuing to overstep its authority and suppress legislatures that are standing up for the unborn to pass strong pro-life laws,” the governor said in a statement. “They are working right now to make it easier to end the life of an unborn child via telemedicine abortion. That is not going to happen in South Dakota. I will continue working with the legislature and my Unborn Child Advocate to ensure that South Dakota remains a strong pro-life state.”
Noem’s executive order also mandates the health department to collect data on chemical abortions.
“We commend Governor Noem for taking this bold action that will save lives from dangerous chemical abortions, which have a fourfold higher rate of complications compared to surgical abortion,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said Tuesday. “The Biden administration would turn every post office and pharmacy into an abortion center if they had their way, leaving women alone and at risk of severe heavy bleeding, physical, emotional, and psychological stress, and more. Governor Noem is setting a courageous model today that we hope more state leaders across the nation will soon follow.”
Kristin Hayward of Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, however, believes the governor’s order is an attack on “reproductive freedom.”
“We know most South Dakotans support the right to safe, legal abortion, but Noem is following a vocal minority that is attacking abortion, contraception, and comprehensive sexual education in this country,” she claimed.
In a state that has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964, it’s doubtful the governor represents an unpopular view.
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