could more native land save abortion rights?
finally a good loophole
I’d like to start with a big high-five to YOU.
Because you tuned into the Man Enough Podcast we were nominated and honored with a whopping four webbies! While losing to Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart is on my bucket list, I’d be thrilled for you to VOTE in the best Interview/Talk Podcast Show category and the Diversity & Inclusion category for our episode with Emmanuel Acho. The podcast also got two honorary webbies for being in the top 20% of submissions which is wild and a testament to how lucky I am to have you in my corner.
Last night some of you even took time out of your day to walk me off the ledge when the zipper of my jacket got stuck so I’m feeling very supported right now.
It felt good to feel you with me because it’s been a long week. I started a new secret job I can’t really tell you about yet and it means reading news all day and boy it’s been bad. Oklahoma passed a near-total abortion ban that turns anyone who performs one into a felon who can be punished with 10 years in prison or $100,000 fine. There are only four clinics in the the entire state and they’ve already struggled to meet the medical needs of the women coming into especially since a lot of them have been traveling from Texas who banned abortions before most women know they’re even pregnant.
But here’s a potential positive spin: this new ban on abortion would only technically apply to half the state. While the anti-women lawmakers in Oklahoma have a lot of power—so do indigenous populations.
How is that possible? When South Dakota passed a similar abortion ban in 2006 and it was signed into law by Gov. Mike Rounds, the total abortion ban made no exceptions for rape and incest. At the time, Cecilia Fire Thunder, the first female president of the Oglala Sioux Nation was infuriated and said that she would open a Planned Parenthood clinic on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Thunder was impeached for her actions by the tribal council but fortunately the abortion ban was repealed anyways. Oklahoma is now the state with the highest percentage of its land belonging to Native reservations. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled that almost half of the state belongs to Native communities in 2020 and since crimes committed on this land cannot be prosecuted by the state, it could create an interesting loophole for women to still receive abortions.
Could there be an emergence of abortion clinics on reservations? It’s very TBD. Native women who face twice as many pregnancy deaths as white women already have a tough time accessing abortions on tribal land and it’s not like all of this would go away over night, but it’s still an interesting grey area that could provide some states with high Native populations some potential work arounds. After all, Indigenous women have been fighting the anti-choice movement for a really long time. In addition to facing a history of mass and forced sterilization, many can’t access abortion services because the government prevents funds for abortion services to go to the Indian Health Service. Abortion can only be performed in the case of rape or incest and a woman has to have reported the rape within the last 60 days something that rarely happens in a society where the justice system is biased against victims. This, despite the fact that Native women are more than twice as likely to be the victim of sexual assault. So the more we prioritize the needs of those are the margins, the better chance we have to access the services we all have a right to receive.
That’s why we should all take a moment to relish in the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman justice on the Supreme Court of the United States this week. There’s a lot to be worried about in the world but having one more qualified badass on on the court who is vociferously committed to reproductive justice is something we should all take a moment to savor.
In Canada, before abortion rights, the 1st cause of death for woman was self-induced abortion :(
It's unsettling to see the concerted effort against people's rights making headway across the US 😕
Closing on a brighter note: voted for you in The Webby Awards. Good luck!