http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/02/MNGT4I223K1.DTL
South Dakota Indian leader wants to build tribal abortion clinic Stephanie Desmon, Baltimore Sun
Sunday, April 2, 2006
In South Dakota, where lawmakers last month passed a near-total ban on abortion, the leader of one of the state's American Indian tribes is proposing to circumvent the legislation by establishing an abortion clinic on an Indian reservation -- within reach of women who need the service, but outside the reach of the strict new law.
Cecelia Fire Thunder, a former nurse who is the first female president in the history of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said it was "an eye-opener" when legislators approved a law that prohibits abortion in nearly all cases -- even when the pregnancy results from rape or incest. The only exception is to save the woman's life.
"An Indian reservation is a sovereign nation, and we're going to take it as far as we can to exercise our sovereignty," said Fire Thunder, whose Pine Ridge Reservation encompasses 2.7 million acres in southwestern South Dakota. "As Indian women, we fight many battles. This is just another battle we have to fight."
Because federally recognized American Indian tribes are not, in many cases, required to abide by state law, a clinic could operate lawfully at Pine Ridge even with a ban in place, said South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long. Tribes are, in many respects, treated as foreign nations.
Fire Thunder is one of 15 co-chairs of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, which formed last week with the goal of putting the abortion ban to voters.
The 59-year-old tribal leader, who said she has counseled rape victims, said it was legislators' insistence on prohibiting abortions for women who have become pregnant as the result of rape that drew her to speak out and to propose building "a Planned Parenthood-type clinic" on tribal land.
She first floated the idea to an American Indian columnist in South Dakota last week. Since then, it has been fodder for the local media and national blogs. Her e-mail inbox has filled up with people supporting the idea, she said.
"People need to open up their eyes in this country. Women are being raped at a tremendously high rate in this nation," she said. "In a perfect world, you will report the rape, the police will respond, they will take you to the emergency room. You will tell your story, you will get emergency contraception.
"We don't live in a perfect world. In rural America, that does not happen."
For now, it remains legal to get an abortion in South Dakota. About 800 a year are performed at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls, where doctors fly in once or twice a week from Minnesota, according to Marta Coursey, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. It is the only abortion clinic in the state.
The state ban takes effect July 1. Meanwhile, it faces hurdles.
The South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families last weekend began a drive to collect the 16,728 signatures needed to place a referendum on the law on the November ballot -- and gathered nearly 1,100 in a matter of days, said Nathan Peterson, the campaign's petition director. If the group gets the required signatures, the law would be on hold until the fall.
Should that fail, a lawsuit would be inevitable, said Coursey. Many expect a judge would stay the law indefinitely as the case works its way through the courts.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/04/01/news/local/news02.txt
Abortion clinic planning proceeds
By Bill Harlan, Journal Staff Writer
An unintended effect of South Dakotas new law banning most abortions might be the creation of the first abortion clinic in western South Dakota in 20 years.
The clinic would be on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Its about choice, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder told a small group of reporters Friday at tribal headquarters in Pine Ridge Village.
Fire Thunder suggested a reservation abortion clinic more than a week ago, saying tribal sovereignty would make it exempt from South Dakotas new law banning all abortions except to save the life of the mother.
The new state abortion ban, which has no exemptions for rape or incest, is not yet in effect, and it is almost certain to face a challenge in court and a statewide referendum in November.
The law also has galvanized supporters of abortion rights, such as Fire Thunder, who once worked as a licensed practical nurse in a Southern California abortion clinic. I prayed about that, Fire Thunder said. She concluded that terminating a pregnancy was between a woman and God. She also has counseled Indian women about birth control.
On Friday, speaking slowly and quietly and fighting back tears, Fire Thunder explained why she decided to go public with an idea she has considered for years. I was looking at my statistics about sexual assault and domestic violence, and it made me cry, she said.
Fire Thunder said the tribes sovereignty would make a reservation clinic exempt from the state abortion ban, but she emphasized that the clinic would not be funded or run by the tribe. This is my own position, she said. This is not the position of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. She is proposing a private, nonprofit clinic funded by donations and fees.
Fire Thunder said she was working on the proposal on her own time, mostly after hours. But she also said her position as the elected president of a tribe is useful. If I, as a private citizen, had made this statement, no one would have heard it, she said. Thats why this morning, as I was driving in, I said, Good girl! This is my responsibility as a female human being.
Women on the Pine Ridge reservation and in other rural communities in western South Dakota often dont have access to birth-control services or to emergency contraception, Fire Thunder said.
Alcohol and drug abuse, especially methamphetamines, also increase the number of rapes and sexual assaults on the reservation, she said. And many of those assaults arent reported for days, if at all. By then, its too late, Fire Thunder said. We are creating children under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Fire Thunder believes a reservation womens clinic could provide counseling, too, and education and birth- control services
The clinic could serve women in the entire region, Indian and non-Indian. The reality is, this is not an Indian issue, she said. Its an all- color issue.
Fire Thunder said she had received more than 600 e-mails offering encouragement and even donations for a clinic. The messages came from throughout the nation and the world, from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.
Fire Thunders clinic suggestion has been widely circulated on Internet sites. She got a Wings of Justice award from BuzzFlash.com, for example, but not all of her reviews were positive. A column by Jill Stanek on the conservative WorldNetDaily.com was headlined Sioux tribe plans to scalp its own.
The legality of a reservation abortion clinic that contradicts a state law is not clear-cut. University of South Dakota law professor Frank Pommersheim, an expert in Indian law, calls the idea potentially workable, but questions about issues such as licensing could complicate the plan.
A national Planned Parenthood group called the Post-Roe Task Force also has studied whether reservation abortion clinics might be exempt from state law. Its very exciting that someone like Cecelia Fire Thunder would step forward and make a proposal, task force member Sarah Stoesz said Friday. Im very interested in sitting down and talking with her.
Stoesz also is chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. She said Planned Parenthood clinics in Sioux Falls and Rapid City would remain open, but the Rapid City clinic does not offer abortions. A reservation clinic that offered that service, she said, is a great idea.
Fire Thunder already has consulted attorneys about the clinic. Next week, she will meet with a working group of volunteers to discuss other issues, including fundraising.
South Dakotas abortion ban might never become law. The court battles and the referendum campaign will be hard fought. But Fire Thunder said she would continue working to establish a womens clinic no matter what the courts or voters decide. We need something closer than Sioux Falls, she said. The Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls is the only abortion provider in South Dakota.
The late Dr. Ben Munson of Rapid City, who retired in 1986, was the last abortion provider in the West River region. Pro-life groups picketed Munsons office for weeks at a time, but picketers might pose less of a disruption at a reservation clinic, Fire Thunder said. Protesters would have to follow tribal laws. If they didnt, she said, We have the power to keep them off the reservation.
Fire Thunder said she also had been in contact with leaders of other tribes in South Dakota and other states. The National Organization for Women has invited her to address a meeting. Fire Thunder believes a Pine Ridge womens clinic could have a national impact. Im challenging the women in America to stand up, she said.
Contact Harlan at 394-8424 or at bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com