When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in South Dakota with the exception that it did allow saving the mother's life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, infuriated many of us, but truly sent a shudder through the backbones of feminists.
I leave out men here, because the shudder was to the fact that women who are vicitimized at the hands of men, impregnated by men, are forced by the LAW, to bear the full burden of violation.
On March 21, 2006, the President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder stated: to "To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," she said to me last week. "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."
I personally found this fascinating because for me it was a much needed link between how the abortion debate is a microcosm of a much larger debate around racism, classism and misogyny in the United States.Others have stated very well how "the abortion question" is really a question of access to abortion by poor women. Others have also addressed how the question fails to credit or attribute moral agency to any woman.
For women of color, however, the abortion question also becomes a question about the sovereignty of our bodies and how, in white heterosexual patriarchy (and let's call it what it is), a right to self is impossible.
As legal scholar Dorothy Roberts has asserted: "the modern reproductive rights movement, led by groups such as Planned Parenthood, doesn't see the discrepancy between black and white women s experiences as a matter of degrees. Rather, it categorizes those circumstances that predominately affect black women as "social justice" issues and fails to address them with nearly the vigor it summons for abortion rights. Indeed, reproductive rights have become synonymous with abortion rights in this country, and that narrow focus has racist implications that liberals must begin to address. Excluding black women's stories [and i would expand this to women of color], is not only racist. It's also a fatal obfuscation of the principle from which women's demand for reproductive rights springs: that is, the right to be, the right to exist on equal terms with all other women and men, and to create (or choose not to create) others like ourselves."
By literally bringing PP to the reservation, Fire Thunder makes this link all too obvious. And i hope the resounding THWAP echoes loud and wide.
For all these reasons and more, we should support her unequivocally in her efforts:
If you want to mail donations to the reservation, you may do so at:
Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
OR: and this may be preferred, due to mail volume:
ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751
Enclose a letter voicing your support and explaining the purpose of the donation. Bear in mind, the Pine Ridge Res is not exactly dripping with disposeable income, so do consider donating funds directly to the tribe as well as specifically for this effort.
Make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. This will ensure that the funds get routed properly.