South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed an executive order on Tuesday that bans the prescription of abortion pills through telemedicine — a move that comes days after she proposed tightening abortion restrictions in her state following the Supreme Court’s decision allowing Texas’ ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to stand.
Noem’s order states that abortion pills can only be prescribed or dispensed by a physician licensed in the state, which requires an in-person examination beforehand. The order also dictates that courier, delivery, telemedicine and mail services are banned from providing drugs that induce abortions.
Noem says she will work with lawmakers on legislation that would make the policies in her order permanent.
Currently, abortions can’t be performed on women in South Dakota past 22 weeks of gestation. State law allows abortions to be performed by a physician during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. After the 12-week mark, abortions are limited to specific settings such as a licensed hospital or in the physician’s licensed medical clinic or office through 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling allowed Texas’ anti-abortion to stand, Noem proposed tightening restrictions in her own state by directing her office’s unborn-child advocate to review the state’s abortion laws.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to leave the pro-life TX law in place, I have directed the Unborn Child Advocate in my office to immediately review the new TX law and current South Dakota laws to make sure we have the strongest pro life laws on the books in SD.
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) September 2, 2021
Noem’s proposed tightening of abortion restrictions in her state was issued as copycat bills of the Texas anti-abortion law began emerging in other states such as Florida and Arkansas.
Sorry, but if “off-label” prescribing can allow horse-dewormer for COVID, then “off-label” prescribing can also allow abortifacients for, ummmm, “cramps.”
BTCH…She should have her woman card revoked.
I’d guess Governor Noem has tired of just killing her state’s citizens with covid and had to come up with a new way of bringing misery to them.
Fresh, new initiatives help her sustain her interest in the job, you know.
I’m hoping that this GQP overreach has the effect of turning out women in droves in the midterms so that Democrats retain the House & Senate – and maybe getting the Senate to 51 or 52 so we can ignore Manchin & Sinema.
It is getting way past the point of hypocrisy regarding an individual’s freedom to make personal choices and the need for cooperation for societal responsibility. A current medical concern is the fight over mask/vaccine mandates versus the fight of abortion. In one case the argument is that one has a First Amendment right to decide whether to mask or vaccinate and in the other is that one has the right to tell women that they have no right to make a reproductive decision. These two positions are totally illogical and irrational. This is not the only case of such inconsistency.