Wednesday, March 22, 2006

oglala sioux tribe planned parenthood

After the recent abortion ban was signed into law in South Dakota by Governor Mike Rounds, no one was more outraged than the President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder. Ms. Fire Thunder is a former nurse and was angered that a governing body consisting mainly of white Republican men would make a law restricting women from making a personal choice on abortion. Free to make her own decision on the issue, she has come to take the opposite stance.
“To me, it is now a question of sovereignty. I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.”
Yes, you read that correctly. President Fire Thunder plans to open a Planned Parenthood branch in the state of South Dakota and there's nothing the Republican legislators can do about it.

A mailing address and an email address can be found here if you'd like to help finance this effort. The Oglala Sioux Tribe doesn't have a lot of disposable income, so in order to take on such a large project, they're going to need our help. If you can't afford to help with resources presently, at least drop an encouraging email to President Fire Thunder and let her know that you support her work for women's rights.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leslee Unruh, one of the principals in promoting the South Dakota law, is no longer welcome in her favorite coffee shop. She was told " 'We have a choice as to who we serve, and we choose not to serve you.' They were careful to emphasize the word choice."

Did they really think they could legislate us back to the stone age and no one would do anything? They have just created a million new activists.