Non-contiguous reservation land proposed for clinics that provide abortion services

A 1986 amendment to federal law allows tribes to acquire off-reservation land to serve the needs of its peoples. A recent court case upheld these tribal rights. The Arizona Republic explains:

Luis Plascencia, an assistant professor at Arizona State University, questioned the states-rights argument. "When states joined the union, they agreed to be a state, political entities authorized by the federal government," Plascencia said. "States are given power but it doesn't make them independent of the United States of America the same way cities are not independent.

South Dakota recently passed an anti-civil rights law that seeks to restrict the number of abortions performed in the state by imposing a waiting period and a prior consult from a non-medical religious organization.

It is time for tribal medical professionals to establish clinics that perform abortions on these non-contiguous parcels as islands of health care that supercede state law. The Northern Cheyenne, a Montana tribe, owns land near Bear Butte in western South Dakota considered "non-contiguous" reservation land.


If this doesn't move you, you're dead:




From an AP story at indianz.com:

Puerto Rico has seen a big jump in the number of residents identifying themselves as "American Indian" on the U.S. Census. Nearly 20,000 island residents claimed Indian heritage on the 2010 Census. That's up 48.8 percent from the 2000 count.