Indianz.Com > News > ‘We were birthed from the Earth’: Two Spirit activist stands up for Native reproductive rights
‘We were birthed from the Earth’
Two Spirit activist stands up for Native reproductive rights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Indianz.Com
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
A chaotic and heated scene played out here in the nation’s capital as a Native activist advocated for tribal sovereignty on the steps of the highest court in the land.
Candi Brings Plenty (they/she), a Two Spirit water protector and land defender from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, opened an event marking the unprecedented loss of women’s reproductive rights with remarks in the Lakota language. But several counter-protesters — all of them non-Native — repeatedly tried to disrupt the gathering that was held on the second anniversary of the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yet Brings Plenty, who was a prominent figure in the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline, stood their ground. Holding an eagle feather fan and a sign in defense of tribal rights, they able to acknowledge the ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank and the Piscataway peoples who have lived in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas since time immemorial — even as one non-Native went so far as to try and block others from witnessing the Women’s Strike event.
Brings Plenty’s tribe is headquartered in South Dakota, one of the states with a total abortion ban. The Republican politicians who control the government there have adopted increasingly anti-Indian policies and practices in just the two years since the Dobbs decision. Nationally, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly blocked efforts to protect a woman’s right to choose through legislation. In their remarks in front of the Supreme Court, Brings Plenty drew a connection between the conservative efforts and the countless Native people who go missing and murdered. “This SCOTUS,” they said, using a common acronym for the high court, “all of those Republicans who are voting for pro-choice — they are perpetuating missing and murdered Indigenous wombs, missing and murdered Indigenous people.” President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is running for re-election, and his administration have made reproductive freedom a major point in the campaign. On the Dobbs anniversary on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Arizona, home to nearly two dozen tribes and to a restrictive abortion law. “We know the former president Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the U.S Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade,” Harris said in Phoenix.. “And they did as he intended. This past weekend, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is the first Native person in a presidential cabinet, campaigned in Arizona as well. She too highlighted the threats facing reproductive rights when Republicans are in office. “Our daughters and our granddaughters have fewer rights than our mothers did,” Haaland said at a campaign event in Flagstaff on Friday. “Reproductive freedom should be the foundational rule in the United States of America. Women recognize what’s at stake in this election.” The focus on reproductive rights comes amid LGBT Pride Month. In addition to speaking at the Supreme Court, Brings Plenty joined other Two Spirit leaders for a historic convening hosted by the White House on Tuesday afternoon. The event was the first of its kind for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Haaland was among those who addressed the gathering, participants told Indianz.Com. The convening was followed by a Two Spirit reception on Tuesday evening that took place at the headquarters of the Indian Gaming Association near the U.S. Capitol.Abortion access was already tough for those using IHS. The Supreme Court’s ruling may worsen the situation, leading to higher mortality rates for Native pregnancy-capable people in the U.S.https://t.co/uMAre78RhY
— Truthout (@truthout) July 17, 2023
Search
Filed Under
Tags
More Headlines
NC Newsline: Kamala Harris backs federal recognition for Lumbee Tribe
Source New Mexico: Native voter battles state over ballot disenfranchisement
Joely Proudfit: Honoring our Ancestors for Native American Heritage Month
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
MSU News: ‘Recipes for Resilience’ showcase Native crops
Ron Lee: Let’s vote to move America forward with Harris and Walz
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation confronts the child care crisis
Daily Montanan: Republican candidate pressed yet again on gunshot wound
Native America Calling: Pinning down the North Carolina Native vote
‘Dark Winds’ returns for expanded third season
Daily Montanan: Man who bragged about killing eagles sentenced to prison
Arizona Mirror: President Biden apologizes for Indian boarding school era
Cronkite News: Tribal governments responsible for orphaned oil and gas wells
Native America Calling: The Lighthorse tradition of tribal law enforcement
United Keetoowah Band: Standing for truth and the future
More Headlines
Source New Mexico: Native voter battles state over ballot disenfranchisement
Joely Proudfit: Honoring our Ancestors for Native American Heritage Month
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
MSU News: ‘Recipes for Resilience’ showcase Native crops
Ron Lee: Let’s vote to move America forward with Harris and Walz
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation confronts the child care crisis
Daily Montanan: Republican candidate pressed yet again on gunshot wound
Native America Calling: Pinning down the North Carolina Native vote
‘Dark Winds’ returns for expanded third season
Daily Montanan: Man who bragged about killing eagles sentenced to prison
Arizona Mirror: President Biden apologizes for Indian boarding school era
Cronkite News: Tribal governments responsible for orphaned oil and gas wells
Native America Calling: The Lighthorse tradition of tribal law enforcement
United Keetoowah Band: Standing for truth and the future
More Headlines