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Dakotans for Health
605-610-8146
Native Women Deserve Freedom to Make Their Own Choice
October 31, 2024
Rapid City, SD...Native American health care providers are adding their voices to the broad coalition of South Dakotans in support of Amendment G to the South Dakota Constitution (The Freedom Amendment), saying that having a choice is extremely important for Native women and their health.
The upcoming ballot initiative on the November 5th ballot will enshrine in state law the very freedoms that were formerly available for a half-century under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
“In many ways, Native women are the most severely impacted of any groups affected by the Supreme Court’s stripping of the constitutional protections for women and their right to choose,” said Dr. Keely Ulmer, an OB/Gyn Gynecologic Oncologist who is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and set to begin practicing in South Dakota in 2025.
“Given the rural locations of most Indian reservations and lack of accessibility to critical health care, the longstanding poor health care status of our people, the high incidence of rape and sexual violence against Native women, and our history of being denied the choice to either have children (through forced sterilization) or by being deprived of the ability to terminate pregnancy when it endangers our health, as Native American health care providers, we support Constitutional Amendment G in South Dakota,” Ulmer said.
“Distances from the state’s largest reservations to places where legal reproductive health care is make accessing reproductive care that women have a right to, merely impossible,” said Tamee Livermont, who is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, in her last year of medical school, with plans to return to South Dakota as a provider for tribal communities.
“After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Governor Noem signed into law one of the most extreme abortion bans in the nation, with no exceptions for the health of expectant mothers, or in the cases of rape or incest, financial resources for travel to receive care are almost non-existent,” Livermont said.
“We feel that the passage of Amendment G to the South Dakota Constitution is the only hope of restoring protections, real choice and real freedom for Native American women, especially when it comes to maternal health,” said Dr. Ulmer.
Amendment G, unlike most pro-choice ballot initiatives, is being outspent by its pro-life opposition by a ratio of four to one. South Dakota will be the first of the 13 total abortion ban states to attempt to enact a ballot initiative which would break the total ban on abortion. South Dakota is by far the most conservative state thus far to seek passage of a pro-choice initiative. Two recent news media-sponsored polls have shown a dead heat on amendment G, one predicting passage for the amendment by a 3% margin, the other its defeat by 3%.
“With these small margins, Native American voters likely will determine the outcome on amendment G,” said Livermont. “We urge both reservation and urban Native voters to turn out on November 5th and to support Amendment G by volunteering their time to make calls or educate voters to support its passage.”
“Even if some of us are not personally in favor of abortion, because of our religion or background,” said Dr. Ulmer, “we can still support our fellow Native women whose lives are threatened, by giving them the choice and the freedom to save their lives and preserve their health when they face the difficult choice of having to terminate their pregnancy to save their life or health.”
“We know that Governor Noem’s extreme abortion ban is dangerous to our people. For our Native women, it is not a principle; it is literally a matter of life and death,” exclaimed Livermont.
The other members of the Coalition joined today by the Native American Health Care Providers are Women, Doctors, Lawyers, faith leaders, mothers and daughters, and Republicans. The Coalition is directed by Nancy Turbak Berry of Watertown, South Dakota, and is part of the Dakotans for Health organization, which is the sponsor of Amendment G.
Keely Ulmer, MD, OB/Gyn, Gynecologic Oncology, Oglala Lakota
Tamee Livermont, MPH, Medical Student, Oglala Lakota
Mary Owen, MD, Family Physician, Tlingit
Rikki Schad, MSN, Improvement Officer Oyate Health Center, Mniconjou Lakota
Please contact Ms. Tamee Livermont, MPH, Oglala Lakota, for more details at (605) 441-7871.
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About Dakotans for Health:
Dakotans for Health is a grassroots organization focused on healthcare and protecting the democratic process. The organization was instrumental in the successful 2022 campaign to expand Medicaid coverage to 52,000 low-income South Dakotans. Dakotans for Health will continue its efforts to ensure our neighbors have access to the care they need, no matter who they are, what they look like, or how much money they have.
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