On sovereign land, for women

Filed under: Gender Issues, Health — Terry @ 8:30 am

In response to the new law banning abortion in South Dakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has picked up the challenge. Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux, issued a statement to Tim Giago, founder and first president of the Native American Journalists as well as Founder and Publisher of the “Lakota Times” and the “Lakota Nation Journal,” covered by Indianz.com.

“To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,” Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux said 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.”

Pine Ridge, which in 1998 reported an unemployment rate of 73% and a median annual income is around $3,000, can’t do it alone. According to Bitch PhD, Ms. Fire Thunder is accepting donations toward the effort.

The mailing address is:

Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
or

ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751

For donations specifically for the Planned Parenthood clinic, make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. General donations may be made out to the Oglala Sioux Tribe.