Lakota Wisdom.

In a Chicago Tribune article regarding abortion on an Indian reservation, the first female president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation said:

"Women are so colonized and oppressed, even if you drive a Mercedes and have a charge account at Neiman Marcus you're a second-class citizen in the eyes of the government and the church."

The tribe is located in South Dakota which recently passed a law making an abortion a felony, except in cases of life of the mother.

"Rape and incest are common [on Indian reservations]." The incidents are "often linked to the high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse. According to U.S. Justice Department statistics, Indian women are sexually assaulted at a rate more than three times higher than white women. The alcoholism rate on the reservation is at least double the national average. "Who gave those men in Pierre [the state capital] the right to decide about a pregnancy caused by an act of violence?" she said.