Clinic protest planned

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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PINE RIDGE -- American Indian elders, youths and community members will meet today to organize a march protesting a proposed women's clinic offering abortion services on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Organizer Lily Mae Red Eagle, 85, of Kyle, said the meeting would begin at 1 p.m. at the powwow grounds in Pine Ridge.

She said the group will plan a march later this month to protest Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder's proposal to establish an abortion clinic on the reservation.

Fire Thunder proposed the clinic in response to a new state law, scheduled to take effect in July, banning almost all abortions in South Dakota. Fire Thunder said the reservation's sovereign status would allow doctors to perform abortions at a clinic there despite state law.

Red Eagle said the planned march will be peaceful, with protesters attending OST Council to listen as representatives discuss the issue.

"We're not going to attack anyone, but we will listen to what council has to say about this," Red Eagle said.

A grandmother of nine children, Red Eagle said she found it difficult to believe that women unconnected to Indian Health Services would come to the reservation for any kind of medical treatment.

"I don't believe in killing babies, no matter what the circumstances," she said.

Robert Benson of Pine Ridge agreed.

"We've never believed in killing our own," he said.

Benson said the proposed clinic is one of the biggest controversies to affect the reservation. It has pitted family and friends against each other.

"It's dividing a nation of people," he said.

Former Pine Ridge council representative Eileen Janis said she would join the protest, too. If allowed to succeed, the proposed clinic would be a target on the reservation for more controversy, she said.

"Like Lily Mae said, it makes me feel bad that we would consider having something like this on our land," Janis said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com