When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” whether children similar to a 10-year-old child abuse victim who traveled from Ohio to Indiana to receive an abortion should be forced to give birth, Noem said, “This tragedy is horrific. I can’t even imagine. I have never had anybody in my family or myself gone through anything like this. … But, in South Dakota, the law today is that the abortions are illegal, except to save the life of the mother.”

Noem told Bash [gender] would not be in favor of amending the current law – a so-called trigger law that took effect following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade – to add an exception for similar situations, saying, “I don’t believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy.”