South Dakota Gov. Christy Noem said Sunday that her state will prosecute abortion doctors and work to restrict women’s access to abortion pills.
South Dakota is among the 10 states with “trigger laws” that declared abortion a crime immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday to dismiss Rowe v. Wade in 1973, which established women’s right to have a procedure.
Noem, a Republican, said South Dakota would prosecute doctors, not women who break its law.
“We will continue to have this debate about how we can support these mothers and what it really means to be sure that we will never persecute mothers in a situation like this,” Noem told CBS News’s Face the Nation. “[Prosecution] it will always focus on those doctors who knowingly break the law to perform abortions in our country. “
South Dakota Gov. Christy Noem said her state would prosecute abortion doctors after the Supreme Court overturned Rowe against Wade last week. AP Photo / John Raoux, File
The Supreme Court – a Mississippi court ruling banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy – overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing individual states to ban the practice or impose restrictions.
In South Dakota, all abortions are illegal unless they are considered necessary to save the mother’s life. There are no other exceptions, including rape or incest.
South Dakota will also restrict access to abortion pills. Photo of ROBYN BECK / AFP via Getty Images
CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked Noah if South Dakota also planned to restrict access to abortion pills, noting that Attorney General Merrick Garland had warned states not to allow women to receive the drug, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Noem said the South Dakota legislature did not believe such a telemedicine abortion should be available, “because it is a dangerous situation for these people without being under medical supervision.”
Brennan asked if South Dakota would repeal the FDA and decide which drugs state residents could receive.
“Many of these decisions are made at the state level, they are absolutely so. That’s what countries do, “Noem said.
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