As you may have heard, South Dakota passed a law banning nearly all abortions. The law is supposedly written in such a way as to be a good constitutional challenge for Roe v. Wade. Thus one of our fellow rural states is going to be a focal point of a LOT of national attention, as the governor vowed to sign the bill into law. (I’m not sure if that has happened yet). But don’t worry…the fine folks who brought you gambling and tax-free smokes are ready to step in! Need an abortion? Hop on over to Pine Ridge and get one there once their new clinic is built. Heck, they will probably even have federal dollars pay for it! One catch though; not available to a woman who’s non-Indian. From an KNBN news report: “The best solution to abortion is to make sure that women have access to contraceptives, have access to family planning options, and that information needs to be out there at all times where all women of childbearing age have that information and use it.” … “We just want to make sure that something is done for women who make that decision. All we can do is provide that to them, no questions asked. It’s their choice. It’s between her and God and that unborn baby. And I honor that.” — Cecilia Fire Thunder, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe Wow, imagine if a white guy (person of whiteness? I don’t know the Politically Correct language) proposed the idea that killing (or even just preventing the births) of more Native American babies would be a solution to anything! If I were to make a short list of issues that should be tackled aggressively and quickly in Indian country, I think the list would include unemployment and poverty, meth and alcohol addiction…there are plenty of things that would come before no-questions-asked abortions. If you’d like you can read the whole KNBN TV story here.