{"id":26291,"date":"2022-07-18T13:07:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T17:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=26291"},"modified":"2022-07-18T13:09:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T17:09:29","slug":"stronghearts-native-helpline-native-women-denied-sovereignty-over-their-own-bodies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/18\/stronghearts-native-helpline-native-women-denied-sovereignty-over-their-own-bodies\/","title":{"rendered":"StrongHearts Native Helpline: Native women denied sovereignty over their own bodies"},"content":{"rendered":" \"U.S.<\/a>
The U.S. Supreme Court. Photo courtesy StrongHearts Native Helpline<\/figcaption>\r\n
Impacts of the Roe v. Wade<\/em> Decision on Native American and Alaska Native Women Sexual Violence Victim-Survivors<\/div>\r\n
Monday, July 18, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By StrongHearts Native Helpline<\/div>\r\n
strongheartshelpline.org<\/A><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe June 24 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion<\/a> will adversely impact Native American and Alaska Native victim-survivors of sexual violence in several ways. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe ruling paves the way for national criminalization of abortion. A number of states, including Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, already have existing trigger laws that allow those states to ban abortion now that Roe v. Wade<\/em> has been overturned.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cNative women and girls suffer the highest rates of stalking, rape and femicide in the nation,\u201d said Lori Jump (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), chief executive officer, StrongHearts Native Helpline<\/a>. \u201cAbortion is not offered at the Indian Health Service<\/a> (IHS) and having planned parenthood clinics is essential to the health and well-being of sexual assault victims. It\u2019s a breach of trust responsibility and body sovereignty that goes back to colonization.\u201d\r\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"U.S.\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed decades of precedent, with a new conservative majority denying women the constitutional right to an abortion.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Indianz.Com\"\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn fact, the IHS (which provides health care on reservations) is prohibited under the 1976 Hyde Amendment<\/a> from using federal monies for abortion services, except when the mother\u2019s life is endangered and in instances of incest and rape.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMaking it difficult for any woman to obtain an abortion or by criminalizing it in some, or even all, states won\u2019t make abortions disappear. It makes them unsafe and potentially fatal. Those at most risk will be poor women and women of color, especially Native women who reside on tribal lands or in remote areas where abortion services are difficult to access.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMaking abortion services inaccessible to Native women whether they live in an urban or rural area further exacerbates the enormous socio-economic and health disparities. For example, the poverty rate among Native women is the highest<\/a> among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. at 28.1 percent. Overall, one in three Native Americans live in poverty<\/a> with an annual median income of $23,000. Complications during pregnancy or childbirth<\/a> (or both) are three to four times more likely for Native women.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThere are also barriers to acquiring emergency contraception<\/a> outside of reservation communities and travel to obtain abortion services can require exorbitant travel and other expenses that Native women simply cannot afford. Financial abuse \u2014 a form of relationship abuse where one partner controls their partner\u2019s financial situation \u2014 also can figure into the picture. An intimate partner who takes control of their partner\u2019s finances ultimately has control over making financial decisions that undermine their partner\u2019s well-being and, in cases such as these, make it difficult or even impossible for that partner to seek abortion services.\r\n

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