SD Oglala Sioux to establish Planned Parenthood cl

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SD Oglala Sioux to establish Planned Parenthood clinic

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Giago: Oglala Sioux president on state abortion law
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
www.indianz.com/News/2006/013061.asp

"When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively
banned all abortions in the state 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, set of a maelstrom of
protests within the state.

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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."

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Tribal leader ousted over abortion clinic By CARSON WALKER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 30, 12:57 PM ET



PORCUPINE, S.D. - A Sioux tribe ousted its president for proposing an abortion clinic on the reservation, which would be beyond the reach of South Dakota's strict new abortion ban.

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By a 9-5 vote late Thursday, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council determined Cecelia Fire Thunder had pursued the clinic for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation without council approval, and she was immediately replaced.

"The bottom line is the Lakota people were adamantly opposed to abortion on our homelands. The president was involved in unauthorized political actions," said Will Peters, the council member who filed the complaint.

Fire Thunder said the council did not handle the action properly and promised to challenge it.

"It's not about abortion. A lot of them have personal stuff toward me," said Fire Thunder, who had survived two earlier attempts to remove her from office since becoming the tribe's first female president in 2004.

Fire Thunder began proposing a clinic in March, shortly after Gov. Mike Rounds signed one of the toughest abortion laws in the country. It bans abortion in almost all cases and does not include exceptions for rape or incest. The council suspended Fire Thunder in May and also voted to ban abortions on the reservation.

She once worked part-time at a Planned Parenthood clinic in California that performed abortions and said her support for a clinic comes from concern for girls and women who are victims of rape and incest.

"We have a lot of 14- and 15-year-olds getting pregnant, and it did not happen by strangers," she told the council.

Peters said that under Lakota values, abortion is wrong and life is sacred.

Fire Thunder was replaced by Alex White Plume.

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On the Net:

www.lakotamall.com/oglalasiouxtribe