Tribes could build mobile women's clinics

An appeals court comprised of judges from mostly red states has upheld another chilling effect on the rights of women in South Dakota.

Numerous American Indian tribes without reservations in the state, many of whom are sensitive to the reproductive rights of women, own land in South Dakota. Indian Country Today posted a June story of a Lakota woman fighting for full access to health care without the strictures of an oppressive legislature.

Here's a snip from Eisa Ulen's piece:

Just months after the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) published a startling February 2012 report, “Indigenous Women’s Dialogue: Roundtable Report on the Accessibility of Plan B as an Over the Counter (OTC) Within Indian Health Service,” Clifford’s petition is over 100,000 signatures strong and well on its way to meeting its goal of 150,000 signatures. “There is a chance I could face backlash,” [Sunny Clifford] continues, “it could be violent. But it doesn’t scare me as much as thinking about a woman who has been raped and can’t get healthcare. I’m much, much more scared about that. Which is more important?”

Federal law permits tribes owning off-reservation property to adopt economic development strategies on any land that they own: that includes the sovereignty of mobile clinics.

South Dakota women: stand for your rights and push this opportunity!