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Reservation petition drive set
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FarkWOUNDED KNEE - An Illinois group has volunteered to help organize a petition drive banning abortions on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
According to a news release, Lakota Native American Outreach of Wheaton, Ill., will host a petition rally Friday through Sunday, June 23-25, at Wounded Knee. Its goal is to have the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council place an issue on the next election ballot seeking to amend the tribe’s constitution to ban abortion, Bill Bielecki of Lakota Native American Outreach said in the release.
Earlier this year, OST President Cecelia Fire Thunder proposed a clinic in response to South Dakota’s new abortion ban, which has since been referred to a statewide vote in November. Fire Thunder said the new state law might not apply to a clinic on the reservation. She also suggested that women from throughout the state could use it.
Last month, the tribal council suspended Fire Thunder, pending an impeachment hearing, for proposing an abortion clinic on the reservation and for allegedly raising money for the clinic. It also issued a gag order on the embattled president. The council also voted to ban abortions on the reservation.
Bielecki’s group will partner with other anti-abortion organizations in its effort to put the issue to a vote, the news release said.
Eileen Janis of Pine Ridge, a former council representative and a clinic opponent, said someone at Wounded Knee had loaned the group land to camp.
“They had contacts in Oglala from prior years; they heard the news and wanted to do a petition drive,” Janis said.
She said she has not met Bielecki and is not in contact with the group but has seen drafts of the proposed constitutional amendment and initiated amendment petition. They both were well-written, Janis said.
“They are helping out in any way that they can,” Janis said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com
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