Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) said she does not support gay marriage but acknowledged that there is a “diversity of opinions” on the issue within the Republican Party.
Noem made the comments during a roundtable with reporters at the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference, just weeks after several dozen House Republicans joined with Democrats to support legislation codifying gay marriage into law.
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“I’m not going to tell people how they should vote when it comes to that issue,” Noem said. “I think there’s a diversity of opinions within the GOP, and within the Republican Party, on how people would land on that type of an issue.”
The South Dakota governor said she had “never supported gay marriage” and that “a lot of my faith has to do with that.”
“But I do know that a lot of people are still continuing to have those discussions,” she added.
The roundtable took place prior to Noem’s planned speech at the conference and covered a wide range of topics, including abortion. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade last month, South Dakota was one of several states that activated trigger laws banning abortion.
“We have an opportunity to really show that we do support women, especially women that are in crisis, in ways that we haven’t before,” Noem said. “A lot of people talk about abortion, [but] they don’t necessarily always talk about what they can do to support these women and families that find themselves in this situation.”
Noem, who is seen as a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate or running mate to former President Donald Trump, said she would not support legislation that would prohibit South Dakotan women from seeking abortions in other states.
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“I don’t know of any legislators that are seriously pursuing that,” she said, “and I’m certainly not … and to be clear, even in South Dakota, if they were to get an abortion, even though the law doesn’t allow it, a woman would never be prosecuted. It would be the doctor that facilitated it and knowingly broke the law, not the woman.”
