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Noem Vetoes Access to Healthcare for Pregnant Minors with Abusive Parents

Governor Kristi Noem gave the Legislature three bills to consider on Veto Day Monday. She stamped her most bothersome veto Friday on House Bill 1223, a humane and reasonable bill sponsored by Representative Erin Healy (D-14/Sioux Falls) that would allow a pregnant minor mentally capable of providing consent to obtain any medical or dental procedure related to prenatal care, delivery, or postnatal care if the health care provider first tries to contact the parent or guardian and that parent or guardian either doesn’t answer or withholds consent.

Representative Healy says HB 1223 would “protect minors from absent and abusive parents” and “ensure[] babies can be born healthy and put the minor in touch with a caring adult (i.e. healthcare provider) sooner rather than later.” HB 1223 has the support of Avera, Sanford, the state medical and dental associations, the obstetricians and gynecologists, and the Presentation Sisters. It squeaked out of the House 37–33 but passed easily in the more generally sensible Senate 30–5.

But, as with the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Noem puts rights over health:

As a parent to three children and now a grandparent, I know that this bill erodes parental rights in a way that ultimately hurts families. Parents’ constitutional rights include right to care, custody, and control of their children. That includes the right to make healthcare decisions for their child [Gov. Kristi Noem, veto message on HB 1223, 2022.02.25].

Wait a minute: isn’t the minor now a parent? Doesn’t the minor have parental rights to make sure her baby is born safe and healthy?

Governor Noem also claims that pregnant minors can already get care without parental consent if their life or health is in danger. But Representative Healy notes that the Governor never raised any objection during the hearing process for HB 1223. Representative Healy says the Governor is betraying her pretense to pro-lifery:

Rep. Erin Healy, Twitter, 2022.03.25.
Rep. Erin Healy, Twitter, 2022.03.25.

Noem and Republicans don’t put their professed love for babies into practical policy. They just use pregnancy as punishment for females having sex with Republican permission.

25 Comments

  1. Nick Nemec 2022-03-26 07:35

    Don’t discount the fact that Rep. Healy is a Democrat and in South Dakota, Democratic sponsored bills shall not be allowed to pass.

  2. mike from iowa 2022-03-26 08:09

    Parents’ constitutional rights include right to care, custody, and control of their children. That includes the right to make healthcare decisions for their child [Gov. Kristi Noem,

    Unless that right pertains to reproductive rights or constitutional abortions, then the rights get vaporized by hypocrites pretending to be caring phony kristians.

  3. 96Tears 2022-03-26 08:36

    Noem’s excuse for her veto is paper thin and illogical. She should with the horsesh#t blathering and just veto it. We know the real reason. Save some time and effort, Snow Princess. It takes away energy from your national ego trip.

  4. larry kurtz 2022-03-26 09:08

    The schism in the SDGOP is very real so expect even more divisiveness within Mrs. Noem’s political party.

  5. Eve Fisher 2022-03-26 09:20

    Vetoing the ultimate right to life bill (prenatal care for pregnant minors of controlling, abusive parents) is… breathtaking. What a bunch of horse hockey.

  6. 96Tears 2022-03-26 10:04

    Eve, the ultimate right to life bill lacked Noem’s most essential requirement: Craven cruelty.

  7. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-26 10:38

    I have mixed feelings with regard to the abortion issue. Regardless of which side you fall on, this should be a no-brainer to pass.

  8. Eve Fisher 2022-03-26 12:06

    96Tears, you are absolutely correct.

  9. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-03-26 14:50

    It is important to note, Ben, that House Bill 1223 does not change any of the consent requirements for abortion. It explicitly excludes abortion consent from its scope.

  10. jad 2022-03-26 16:33

    I have always felt that if a Democrat has a good bill it will fail and then in a couple of years be introduced as a Republican idea and pass.

  11. Loren 2022-03-26 16:35

    ” Parents’ constitutional rights include right to care, custody, and control of their children. ”

    Could someone direct me to that section oof the Constitution? “When in the course of human events, my daughter becomes pregnant, I have the RIGHT to blah, blah, blah…?” Is that the section?

  12. mike from iowa 2022-03-26 17:24

    … – Governor Kristi Noemhttps://www.facebook.com › govnoem › posts › i-trust-.
    .
    Apr 21, 2020 — I trust South Dakotans to do the right things to keep themselves, their loved-ones, and their communities safe.

    Except for expectant mothers, pot smokers, Native American’s children,LGBTQ people and trans gendered female athletes.

  13. bearcreekbat 2022-03-26 18:38

    Loren, somewhat ironically, according to the SCOTUS, “Parents’ constitutional rights include right to care, custody, and control of their children” is essentially implied in the14th Amendment, based on many of the same sources that the SCOTUS found in Roe v. Wade one year later that supported a constitutional “right to privacy” that protects a woman’s right to decide whether or not to have a child.

    The rights to conceive and to raise one’s children have been deemed “essential,” . . . , “basic civil rights of man,” and “[r]ights far more precious . . . than property rights,” . . . .

    . . . The integrity of the family unit has found protection in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment, . . . [citations omitted].

    Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651 (1972)

    In Roe v. Wade the SCOTUS explained:

    The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy. In a line of decisions, however, going back perhaps as far as . . . 1891. . . , the Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution. In varying contexts, the Court or individual Justices have, indeed, found at least the roots of that right in the First Amendment, . . . ; in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, . . . , ; in the penumbras of the Bill of Rights, . . . ; in the Ninth Amendment, . . . ; or in the concept of liberty guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment, . . . . These decisions make it clear that only personal rights that can be deemed “fundamental” or “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,” . . . , are included in this guarantee of personal privacy. They also make it clear that the right has some extension to activities relating to marriage,; procreation, . . .; contraception, . . . .

    . . . This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action. . . , or, . . . in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. . . . . [citations omitted]

    Of course, today’s Republicans are currently sitting on the edge of their chairs cheering and hoping for the newly appointed Justices tof the SCOTUS to overturn Roe and thereby eliminate this unarticulated constitutional right of privacy protecting family planning from arbitrary State interference. And one might think that Noem, with her vast knowledge of constitutional law and desire to claim the role of the current Trumpist-Republican cheerleader, wouldn’t to want to support this unarticulated Constitutional right from Roe and Stanley, which makes her veto of this particular bill odd.

  14. larry kurtz 2022-03-27 06:54

    Mrs. Noem hates women: it’s just that simple. She has never supported the Violence Against Women Act and anyone who believes she’s never been a victim of sexual harassment or unwanted touching is delusional.

    Of the 25 best states for women 22 of them are blue according to the latest rankings from WalletHub. My home state of South Dakota still holds 51st place for the number of women who own businesses and 49th in percentage of women who voted in 2020.

  15. M 2022-03-27 07:40

    larry kurtz, you are spot on. Yesterday, I thought the same thing about the Republican party. Why bills about transgender women and not men? Why female reproductive rights while men have access to a plethora of meds online for very little money? Why the loose gun laws that we know lead to more violent acts against women AND children? At the same time, no Medicaid, horrible access to clinics/hospitals in rural areas, and food deserts all lead to higher infant mortality rates. I suppose Noem will then want to punish them killing their child.

    So in Texas, they are considering the death penalty for women who have abortions. Let’s say a pregnancy is from a rape or incestual act, guess what? They have no rape or incest or at least they’re working on it. Okay for the males eh? Noem loves Texas, she’s following their footsteps because they hate women too.

  16. larry kurtz 2022-03-27 08:57

    Who else is old enough to remember when petty pug Pat Powers accused Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of pimping her son in a campaign advert?

    Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem (KLAN) hates her mother and blames her for “the untimely death of her larger-than-life father.” Her mother Corinne told Kristi her whole life that she was never good enough so Mrs. Noem surrounds herself with men who enable her and bend the knee.

    https://www.amazon.com/Not-My-First-Rodeo-Heartland/dp/1538707055

  17. Loren 2022-03-27 10:51

    Thanks, BCB. The word “implied” sticks out in that justification, once again showing the selectivity of the Repuglican party’s interpretations.

  18. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-27 11:30

    @Cory: Gotcha. I think I was responding to your point that vetoing this bill contradicts Noem’s alleged pro-life position. As someone who sympathizes with the pro-life position, this is a no-brainer for me to pass.

  19. Donald Pay 2022-03-27 13:35

    I would call a veto of this bill child abuse. It is the farthest thing from protecting life. It is quite the opposite, actually.

    A responsible future mother is going to get to her prenatal appointments, whether she is a minor or not. What if her parents fail to show up? I assume just about everything in OBGYN requires some sort of consent. So, she shows up because she wants to make sure her child has the best chance at a healthy birth, and the doc can do nothing, because the minor can’t give consent. That seems to me to be endangering the life of the fetus. If you really believe in life, that prospective mother is protecting life, and Governor Noem is endangering it.

  20. Mark Anderson 2022-03-27 18:41

    Well when the Supreme Court gets rid of Roe vs Wade, which is the name of a small boat in Sarasota harbor by the way. Republicans will lose elections all over the country. Can’t wait. However they know this so they continue to try underhanded schemes rather than just put it forward. The country is overwhelmingly in favor of a woman’s right to chose how it plays out will be interesting.

  21. Pam Andrews 2022-03-29 10:02

    So many comments by democrats seem to take for granted that the parents of the pregnant teenager are abusive and evil, and this is a further attempt to put the state in the role of “parent”. I fully support Noem on this one. Parents, whether of the unborn or of pregnant scares teens, deserve to be communicated with regarding their child’s welfare. And yes, the unborn deserve every chance to live. Abortion is the Holocaust of our age. Thank you for reading:

  22. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-03-29 11:48

    We take no such thing for granted. However, this bill would allow a minor in that hard situation to get care and protect that child from such abuse.

    Other laws on child abuse do not assume that every parent is an abuser; such laws only help protect vulnerable humans from those who are abusive.

  23. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-03-29 11:49

    This bill also has nothing to do with abortion. Read the bill, please.

Comments are closed.