Column: Kristi Noem Gets Hardball Practice

June 29th, 2022 6:00 AM

The “news” networks don’t practice any religious observances on their airwaves on Sunday, but they do have a fierce devotion to promoting their sacred “right” to destroy innocent unborn children. You could see this on June 26 during two interviews with Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

On ABC’s This Week and CBS’s Face the Nation, Noem was pressured, shamed, and repeatedly interrupted as she spoke about a pro-life agenda. Pro-abortion Democrats were offered a much gentler touch.

ABC host Martha Raddatz threw hardballs like this at Noem: "The American Medical Association calls the Supreme Court decision a brazen violation of patients' rights, saying that states that end legal abortion will not end abortion. They will end safe abortion, risking devastating consequences, including patients’ lives.”

This establishes several things.

1. The AMA doesn’t sound like a medical association. It sounds like Planned Parenthood. Just like the abortion industry, they can’t seem to distinguish there are two patients in any pregnancy.

2. Terms like “ending safe abortion” demonstrate that Orwellian language is alive and well. Killing an unborn baby isn’t “safe” for the baby.” Then they warn of an abortion ban ending “patients’ lives,” as if the death toll increases after an abortion ban, not decreases.

This nakedly political and unscientific calculus was next demonstrated when Raddatz turned to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Raddatz began by happily declaring that in Warren’s home state was “where abortion remain legal and the commonwealth's governor issued an executive order Friday to further protect women's reproductive health services.”

Then she offered this poor excuse of a question. “You heard Governor Noem there. She and millions of others believe this will save the lives of unborn children. Is that a position you can respect in any way?”

This also establishes some things.

1. Raddatz somehow thinks it’s a bizarre belief that millions have that outlawing abortion “will save the lives of unborn children.” Maybe Raddatz doesn’t think they’re fully human.

2. Raddatz is strongly hinting to Warren that Noem’s opinion doesn’t deserve respect “in any way.”

CBS host Margaret Brennan also pressed Gov. Noem from the first question. She was somehow responsible for everything going wrong.

“America has the worst maternal mortality rate of any developed country,” Brennan proclaimed. “What specifically are you doing for these women who, not just when they have the baby, but during their pregnancy? Are you giving them paid leave? Are you giving them more health care rights in your state? Are you giving them more state funding? What exactly are you doing to keep them alive during their pregnancy?”

She wouldn’t ask what Noem was doing to keep the baby alive.

What followed was a feisty battle over “tele-medicine abortions,” and Brennan couldn’t understand why South Dakota would dare to question a “federally approved drug,” and forget that the objective is murder.

Brennan also interviewed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and the toughest question came from the left. “How much do you think that the Democratic Party or Democratic leadership failed here? This was telegraphed for so long. Should the federal government now do more?”

Brennan did suggest to Whitmer the Department of Homeland Security sent alerts about violent extremism around abortion, and “specifically mentioned an incident in Michigan related to a pro-abortion rights group.” But while the words “Jane’s Revenge” were on screen, Brennan wouldn’t say the group’s name out loud. Whitmer changed the subject to Trump, and Brennan found no reason to interrupt.

Democrats know no one will ask about their extremism, defending the right to any abortion at any time...because that extremism is shared with the media elite.