Tribe President Suspended for Supporting Women

By Jessica Hopper, Communications Intern

June 15, 2006

Cecelia Fire Thunder, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, was suspended by the tribal council after its members voted to ban abortion on the tribe's Pine Ridge Reservation.

Fire Thunder has been a long-time advocate of women's rights through her counseling of rape victims and her work in domestic violence education and prevention. Not surprisingly, she responded to South Dakota's anti-abortion law by vowing to defend women's reproductive rights.

"To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," she announced to the press on March 20. "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the state of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction." NOW President Kim Gandy defended Fire Thunder, an upcoming speaker for NOW's national conference in July. "Cecelia Fire Thunder's actions demonstrate great courage in support of women's lives. Her actions should be heralded, not attacked," Gandy said.

Unfortunately, tribal elders who had been critical of Fire Thunder's election seized this opportunity to seek her ouster. On May 30, the tribal council voted to suspend Fire Thunder for 20 days pending an impeachment hearing. The council claims that Fire Thunder solicited funds for the proposed clinic without the council's permission, and that in supporting abortion rights Fire Thunder misrepresented the tribe.

Fire Thunder told Aberdeen American News on June 1, "The whole thing was an ambush." She notes that those opposing her are the same people who have opposed her since she became the first female president of the tribe in 2004.

Her current suspension, which may violate the tribe's constitution, has left her without pay and banned from telling her side of the story to the media. In an interview with Rapid City Journal, Fire Thunder disobeyed the gag order by saying, "That's a violation of my constitutional rights."

"Just like Cecelia Fire Thunder, we must never allow ourselves to be silenced," Gandy said. "I hope NOW members will come to the conference in large numbers next month, to hear Fire Thunder and let her know that we support her courage in protecting and defending women." Get more information on the conference.