In this article, you will find information about the increase in restrictions on abortion following the Roe case, and the desire of Indigenous women for Congress to intervene against these restrictions. Indigenous women face greater difficulties in accessing abortion and maternal care after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe and constitutional abortion rights, according to health experts and rights advocates.
Reduced Access to Reproductive Healthcare After Roe
Abortion rights organizations indicate that more Indigenous women are seeking external help to pay for abortion costs and travel to find legal care. Dr. Antoinette Martinez, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the United Indian Health Service in Northern California, states, “When you have an unwanted pregnancy and limited funds, going to a facility that provides abortion care is almost impossible.”
A report from Indigenous Women Rising showed a 116% increase in the number of clients seeking financial assistance for abortions, from 277 in 2021 to 600 in 2022. The group has provided funding for 220 abortion cases between January and August of this year, and also supports midwifery and doula services.
A study conducted by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and other institutions found that the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives living more than an hour’s drive from legal abortion increased by 20.4% in the year following the overturning of Roe.
Two Goals for Indigenous Women: the Hyde Amendment and Indian Health Service
In 2021, Lyle Echo Hawk, a tribal attorney based in Washington, D.C., and Lauren Van Shellvgard, an expert in federal Indian law at UCLA, filed a legal memo in the Dobbs case asserting that the Hyde Amendment, along with the underfunding of the Indian Health Service, “led to an effective ban on abortion services for victims of sexual assault.”
They wrote, “Indigenous women have to rely on private providers for abortion care, which will destroy Indigenous women’s access to this vital aspect of reproductive health and their self-determination.”
The authors also cited high rates of sexual assault and maternal and infant mortality among Indigenous populations, alongside the “mental, physical, and economic trauma associated” in their call for increased health funding and access.
Although there is no comprehensive data on the number of abortions conducted under the exceptions of the Hyde Amendment, Alia Huss, a law expert in Indian health at Indiana University, said it has been “very little in terms of research done by epidemiologists and researchers.”
A survey conducted by the Center for Research on African Americans in the 2022 midterm elections found that 27% of Indigenous voters wanted Congress and the President to address reproductive rights.
Forty percent of Indigenous voters in the survey stated abortion was their primary motivation for voting in 2022.
Asitoir expects strong participation in 2024. She stated, “When it comes to healthcare, Indigenous women are very strong in not wanting to cut our health services.”
Source: https://www.aol.com/indigenous-women-facing-tougher-abortion-100208152.html
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