"The debate about abortion rights surfaced on the University of New Mexico campus this week – and American Indians were the focus. A poster with a fetus inside of a medicine wheel read: Abortion Extinction. Then it said, “Today, an Indian boy was killed the Indian way. Hey ya hey!”

Native students organized a protest on Wednesday and the posters were removed.

“The first thing that went through my mind was pure hurt, and then I was angry,” UNM senior Paula Herbert told KOAT in Albuquerque. “I left, and I actually cried in the hallway because it hurt me. My people were represented in a negative light.”

Signs in the native protest said: “Racism is not pro-life” and “We will not be used to further your political purpose.” The Native students did not get into the abortion debate, responding instead about the negative depiction of Native Americans in the posters."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Abortion Debate Targets Native Students at University of New Mexico (Indian Country Today 9/20)