Indigenous voices: 'Roe' decision more of the same

Sierra Clark, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·4 min read

Jul. 10—TRAVERSE CITY — The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, removing federally protected abortion access across the US, but many of those in Native American communities say have been disproportionately impacted by restrictive abortion and bodily autonomy laws throughout history.

For Native American women, two-spirit, and transgender people, limited accesses to abortion can be devastating, but is nothing new.

Twenty-two-year-old Kitchi Wiikwedong Odawa Anishinaabe, Nookomis Bronson, said that they are not at all surprised at the Supreme Court's decision.

"Colonization is active today, as a Native woman, it is normal to not have full body autonomy," she said.

Bronson, who identifies as 2-spirit, said the decision worries them though because of the disproportionate rate of violence towards Native Peoples, something they have experienced themselves previously.

According to data from the Department of Justice, 56 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

According to a 2014 report published by the National Library of Medicine, the majority of perpetrators of Native victims are non-native and cannot be prosecuted under tribal law, leaving Native American People vulnerable to continued attacks.

In a public statement, executive director of IllumiNative, a racial and social justice advocacy group, Crystal Echo Hawk wrote, "The Supreme Court's decision is particularly devastating for the Native community who will undoubtedly see an increase in violence towards Native women and girls as a result of today's decision."

Bronson echoed Hawk's concern for her community.

"I personally know people with uteruses who have experienced sexual abuse and deserve to have access to safe abortion care, if needed."

Further restrictions will impact her community greatly if Michigan enforces the 1931 abortion ban, she added.

Many Native American People rely on the federal Indian Health Service, a provisional right from treaties that Native Peoples entered into with the United States, for land seized.

As a federal agency though, it's subject to the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from covering abortion services, except in the cases of rape, incest, or threat to the pregnant person's life.

Michigan is currently one of 33 states and D.C that follow Hyde restrictions, making access to abortion for the 200,000 Native Peoples in the state that rely on the various services provided "in partnership with Michigan's federally recognized tribes, the state historic tribes, Indian organizations, federal government and other community and state organizations," according to state government website.

A study published by the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center in 2002 found that found 85 percent of IHS health care facilities did not comply with the agency's official abortion policy, and 62 percent of the facilities do not provide abortion services or funding, even in cases where the woman's life is endangered by the pregnancy.

IHS has a troubling reproductive health history as for almost a decade in the 1970s, thousands of Native women were tested and sterilized under pressure or duress, or without the women's consent or understanding.

Following the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970, physicians at IHS sterilized around 25 percent of Native American women of childbearing age, with recent evidence suggesting that the numbers were actually even higher.

The underfunding of health services through IHS has also often resulted in a severe lack of doctors and nurses under the healthcare coverage, according to data from the National Library of Medicine.

For 21-year old Giiwedin Shawandase (Hall), the latest chapter of abortion restrictions follows the long-history of "trying to control Native bodies under colonial standards."

Shawandase said he worries how this may personally affect him as a transgender Odawa Anishinaabe man, and other Native Americans who lack the resources for reproductive care outside of IHS.

"This is a dangerous decision ... the barriers it will inflict on the overall health of Native Peoples is something I am concerned for," Shawandase said.

He remarked on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, two-spirit, and transgender people, an epidemic in Indian country, and he said, is a direct relation to the right to choose what happens to one's body.

Both Bronson and Shawandase said understanding the history of restriction of Native American body autonomy matters because it is crucial in understanding the contemporary injustices Native Americans continue to face with abortion and reproductive access.

Report for America corps member and Indigenous affairs' reporter Sierra Clark's work is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.