Tribal leader rallies for abortion clinic on reservation

[Nutmegger]

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder says a clinic on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation could provide abortions if South Dakota’s new abortion ban goes into effect.

“We’re working on it,” Fire Thunder said in a telephone interview Friday. “This is a free-choice issue. If I were in that situation, I’d want somewhere to go where I’d be taken care of.”

Fire Thunder, in fact, is one of 15 co-leaders of the new South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, which on Friday announced a statewide campaign to overturn the new law.

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long declined to comment on the proposal, saying he likely would have to write a description of the new law for ballots in November.

Rapid City attorney Charlie Abourezk, who has experience in Indian law and who has represented tribes and President Fire Thunder, said Indian doctors might be immune from the new state law if abortions were done on a reservation — whether the woman was Indian or non-Indian.

University of South Dakota law professor Frank Pommersheim, an expert in Indian law, agreed that Fire Thunder’s proposal was “potentially workable” — especially if doctors were Indians and if the clinic were on Indian trust land.

Fire Thunder said such a clinic could serve women “from throughout the region.” But she also emphasized the clinic’s local effect. “We want to have a viable option closer to home,” Fire Thunder said in a written statement issued late Friday afternoon. “Of course, in our culture, children are sacred, but women are sacred too, and somebody who has been victimized by rape or incest should have options.”

Full article: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/03/25/news/top/news02.txt

[Vidar]

1. Good thinking on their part.

[flamingyouth]

2. This is a wonderful idea.

I first heard about this yesterday on another list.

[daleo]

3. What a refreshing attitude

"Of course, in our culture, children are sacred, but women are sacred too..."

[Odin2005]

4. GO SOUIX!

And I an't talking about UND Souix! :dunce:

[Nutmegger]

5. k

[Nutmegger]

10. k

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Sounds like a great idea!

But can SD restrict women's access to such a clinic, like arresting them as they leave the reservation?

[kestrel91316]

11. I'd like to see them try!

[Theres-a]

7. Recommended

:kick:

[0007]

8. I love it!

I guess the cowboys & Indians are gonna crank up again, 'eh?

[IndyOp]

9. Once again, the minority comes to the rescue of the majority...

Native Americans provide much needed medical care.
African Americans fight hard everyone's right to vote and have their ballot counted fairly.
Immigant communities demonstrate and insert a big old nail into the tires of the Bushmobile.

I am not saint-ifying anyone. We all have work to do.

I am just pausing for a moment to appreciate the strength inherent in our diversity.

[Moderator]

12. Kick

[NVMojo]

13. Tribe could still have clinic (update on SD ban)

Article Published: 03/28/06, 2:55 am
If South Dakota's near-total ban on abortion dodges challenges at the ballot box and in court, Oglala Sioux Tribe president Cecelia Fire Thunder hopes to establish a clinic that performs abortions outside the reach of state lawmakers but inside the state, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The unique relationship between federally recognized Native American tribes and the states in which they reside means abortion clinics could operate inside the state, even after the law takes effect, according to South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long.

Fire Thunder is one of 16 leaders of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, a group that last week announced its intent to collect the 16,728 signatures necessary to take the law to a statewide referendum.

snip...

In a statement responding to Fire Thunder, Sarah Stoesz, President and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, said the organization has no plans to close the clinics it operates in Rapid City and Sioux Falls, or to open any new ones. Only the Sioux Falls clinic performs abortions.

Stoesz said Planned Parenthood is concentrating on fighting the ban at the polls and in court.

"While the idea of a future collaboration with President Fire Thunder is certainly possible, we do not intend to pursue such an effort at this time," Stoesz said.

more...

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/NEWS/603280319/1001/NEWS

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

14. Kick...

...eom

[IsItJustMe]

15. If President Fire Thunder opens a clinic on Indian territory, The doctor

will have to be a native indian to be legal within the S.D. law. President Fire Thunder sounds like she may open the clinic even if
Planned Parenthood won't help. I heard her today on Democracy Now.

[NVMojo]

16. really? That's strange. the doctor at their kidney dialysis center is not

Indian just like at the kidney dialysis center here in my area on tribal lands and most Indian Health Services physicians are not Native American nationwide ...

so do you mean the state law outlawing certain medical procedures could only be used against non-Indian doctors on tribal lands held in trust for tribes? This gets confusing.

[IsItJustMe]

18. From my understanding of what was said is that 'if the person who

performed the pregnancy termination is a non native, the state of South Dakota could go after that person with their 5 year prison term. If the person is Native American, there isn't a thing that South Dakota can do'.

Apparent, even though it is reservation land, South Dakota still has some type of authority that would make this so. I don't know the intricacies of that law or situation. That was just my understanding from hearing the interview this morning.

Tribe president Cecelia Fire Thunder has also already talked to a Native American who runs a Planned Parenthood Clinic in another state who is willing to the work if need be.

[Tempest]

17. Not true

The doctor only has to be licensed to practice in the state if they practice outside the reservation, he/she does not have to be a native Indian.

States have no jurisdiction in Indian reservations.