Sioux may challenge SD abortion ban - help open a clinic!

[cos]

On Tuesday, this quotation appeared on Indianz.com and spread quickly:

The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women. "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."

After some initial elation, my first reaction was to look for the source.  "She said to me" isn't much context; was it a public statement or a private conversation?  Indianz.com sourced it to a Native Times piece accessible only to paid subscribers.  So I investigated further, and contacted the writer of the column...

... and ended up spending several hours doing research, corresponding with Tim Giago, collecting information from other sources, and wrote a long post about it on dailykos (and a mostly similar version on Blue Mass Group).

The dkos post is getting some interesting comments, including a missive on tribal politics by a resident of a reservation next to the Oglala's, and a long one from kathrynt's husband (the one whose post about this has several hundred comments!). So, if you're interested, please read my post and the comments, and if you have a dailykos account, please recommend my post this afternoon/evening - the earlier the better! Also, pass the link around to groups/lists that would be interested. Thanks!

[Edit: Someone from Planned Parenthood of Minnesota & the Dakotas called me back, and they just issued a press release (~16:00 eastern) - details at dailykos, at the bottom of the post.]

Comments

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

Mine too. (http://also-huey.livejournal.com/55917.html)

[cos]

Hah, I love that comic you linked to! I added that link as a P.S. on both the dkos and BMG versions of my post.

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

Great example of smart political blogging, Cos!

You go guy!

[cos]

Thank you! Recommend on dkos? (also don't miss the comments there, some of them are very informative!)

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I recommended! In fact I'm probably the first person who recommended it :)

(Yes, I too comment on kos with the same username as here. But you probably figured that out :) )

[cos]

I did figure that out. And you were, in fact, the first person who recommended it. I know because the first time I viewed recommenders, right after finishing the post, yours was the only name on the list :)

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Really interesting! Thanks for doing the research and sharing.

[drlaurac.livejournal.com]

That is so very cool!
You may not remember me, but I was at Brandeis while you were there, and saw you on occasion. My husband and I just had a baby this past Wednesday, and I feel more strongly than ever that pregnancy is a great imposition on a person and that each woman must be able to chose for herself what will happen to her body.
So thank you, and let me know what I can do (if anything) to help!