Two Steps Back on Pine Ridge

Tribal council outlaws abortion - Fire Thunder suspended

The Oglala Sioux tribal council banned all abortions on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and suspended President Cecelia Fire Thunder on Tuesday, charging that she solicited donations on behalf of the tribe for a proposed abortion clinic without the council's approval.

Will Peters, a tribal council represntative, made a motion to suspend Fire Thunder indefinitely, and when that failed, voted to suspend her for 20 days until an impeachment hearing could take place. That motion passed.

"This whole thing was an ambush," Fire Thunder said, adding that she never solicited donations and never was asked whether she had actually accepted any money.

Some in the tribe were outraged when Fire Thunder, responding to Gov. Mike Rounds' signature on a bill that would ban most abortions in South Dakota, said she would work to open a Planned Parenthood clinic on the reservation, beyond the reach of state law.

"It got crazy," Fire Thunder said. "On Friday they were passing around a flyer that said 'Wilma Mankiller - Cecelia Babykiller.' "

Mankiller was the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; Fire Thunder is the first female president of the Oglala Sioux.

"Women need services. Women need support. Right now on the Pine Ridge reservation, there's very little support for women who have been raped," Fire Thunder said.

Today, the tribe banned abortions on the reservation.

But the clinic, which will be called Sacred Choices, already has a group of women who have agreed to form a board of directors.

"We have a lot of support, nationwide and, literally, globally," Betty Bull Bear said, one of the women on the board, though she estimated support among tribal members was evenly divided.

"I do not feel comfortable telling a woman what she can or can't do with her body," Peters said. "Yet at the same time, I share the cultural viewpoint that life is sacred."

Many believe abortion to be against Lakota values.

Bitch Ph.D. explains eloquently:
"in communities with a history of ethnic or racial oppression, the patriarchal tensions around issues of women's autonomy are complicated by fears that abortion, specifically, constitutes a form of genocide. In fact, I think the combination of racism and sexism is particularly toxic when it comes to women's reproductive rights".

"So, once again, ensuring the rights of all women means we have to recognize that the oppression of women intersects with, and is perpetuated by, other forms of oppression: racism, poverty, fundamentalism, and so on. We need to keep finding ways to come together across this shit, to lend one another support, and to figure out ways to cope when women's solidarity generates backlash."