Noem spoke on her book, anti-abortion bills, marijuana, and cutting tax

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Gov. Kristi Noem spoke on her upcoming book release, the anti-abortion bills passed, marijuana, and cutting sales tax.

Noem’s upcoming book release

Following suit to Noem’s announcement of her upcoming book release, she said, “There was a young man that helped me named Bill Rivers who helped me, I started about a year ago when quite a few people approached me about it.”

“And working with Charley Hurt, who’s a very very good friend of mine, he started talking to me about some of my stories I told about growing up on a ranch in South Dakota, intrigued by the people here and how they embrace common sense and freedom,” said Noem. “He was very encouraging to me to write down some of my stories, and I started writing them down, and when I got 80-90% of the book done, Bill came along and helped me arrange it into something that people might want to pick up and spend a little time reading.”

When asked if writing this book is an indication that she would run for national office, she said if anyone would run for higher office it would be her mom, and “this is really just a book about South Dakota.”

Anti-abortion bills passed

Noem’s anti-telemedicine abortion bill and Haugaard’s anti-abortion bill passed Tuesday.

In last week’s press conference Noem commented on Haugaard’s anti-abortion bill saying, “It completely bans those prescription drugs that are available to women across the state, which, which I think is wrong. That is not at all what the intention of the measures that I’ve championed which is just not making telemedicine, chemical abortions more available over the internet or over the phone with strangers. What he’s doing is banning those drugs altogether and that could be detrimental to women who are going through very different situations.”

In this week’s press conference, Noem was asked what message the anti-abortion bills send to South Dakota residents who don’t want to carry their fetus to full term.

“I would hope that we would agree that life is important and that even a life in the womb deserves an opportunity to live and to pursue a dream. So I’m hopeful that they recognize that not only in South Dakota do we talk about that life but that we also show that we will support them and that these are situations that they often find that they are unexpectedly in,” Noem said. “and that the State of South Dakota will partner with them and help them get through that challenging situation, let them know that if they want to raise their child, they can. If they would like to have an opportunity to adopt that we certainly will help support them through that as well.”

Noem’s stance on marijuana

Noem was asked if she would veto the medical marijuana bill if it found its way to her desk.

“It’s hard to talk in hypotheticals, I’m not in favor of recreational marijuana, I have still believe I haven’t seen anybody get smarter from smoking dope. So we’ll... We certainly have a medical program, I have supported medical marijuana for years,” Noem said. “We’re in the process of standing up the best program in the country and I appreciate the legislators for making some reforms to that program this session.”

Cutting sales tax

When asked about cutting sales tax by half a percent, Noem says since agriculture is the number one industry in South Dakota, the economy will most likely take a hit on account of the entire state facing a drought. She says she is open to tax cuts, but she’s concerned with revenue predictions.