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NAPW is very pleased to share good news with you in our first-ever Tribal Court case.

While we have long been aware of the inequality that Native American women face, particularly concerning issues of reproductive justice, NAPW has not, until recently, been able to share our expertise in an ongoing case. After hearing NAPW's Executive Director speak at the University of Washington School of Law earlier this year, instructors from the Tribal Public Defense Clinic at U. W. came to us and asked for our help.

A young woman from the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe in Washington State was facing criminal child endangerment charges under Tribal law, based on the claim that she had failed to ensure a healthy birth outcome. Misty Jones, a tribe member and mother of four, had been struggling with an addiction to prescription pain medications. This led to her involvement with Tribal criminal justice and child welfare authorities. While still pregnant, Ms. Jones had agreed to enter a treatment facility where she would be able to stay with her baby. Unfortunately, before she was able to get to the facility, she went into labor. The labor progressed so quickly that Ms. Jones did not have time to go to the hospital. Moreover, because the baby was in a breech (head up) position, the speed of the labor caused the baby to get stuck. As a result, he was without oxygen for nearly an hour before paramedics were able to come and complete the delivery.

The baby, whom Ms. Jones named Angel, lived for 10 days before Ms. Jones had to make the heartbreaking decision to remove life support. The response from some Tribal authorities was to charge the grieving mother with the crimes of reckless endangering and endangerment of a child. According to papers in the case, Ms. Jones was charged for "failing to obtain prenatal care." The Prosecutor in this case wrongly presumed that "prenatal care" would have prevented the precipitous breech birth. The Prosecutor also identified her drug use as a reason for the arrest. The clinic that was representing Ms. Jones, asked us to file an amicus brief.

NAPW did not presume to have expertise about Tribal Courts or the experiences of Native American women, but we do have long-standing connections with allied people and organizations who do. Through our outreach, we found Professor Sarah Deer of William Mitchell College of Law, a Citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and an expert in tribal law Native American women's issues. Professor Deer worked with NAPW staff attorney Farah Diaz-Tello on the brief, and ultimately gained admission to the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribal Court so that she could file the brief and appear as counsel for the amici.

Working with our existing allies, such as the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC), and new allies, the brief was filed on behalf of the NAWHERC, the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, and Tewa Women United.

The amicus brief brought to the court's attention the dangers of criminally prosecuting women who experience bad pregnancy outcomes, and the fact that Native American women experience poor health, addiction, lack of prenatal care, and infant loss at a greater rate than other women in Washington State. The brief relied on Native American scholars and a growing number of Federal authorities who suggest that addiction and poor pregnancy outcomes in Native communities is not the result of individual moral failing, but rather stems from "weathering," and the trauma experienced by Native peoples resulting from ongoing cultural genocide. "Weathering" represents the cumulative stresses of trauma, poverty, racism, and marginalization, that take a toll on women's physical health.

Amici urged the court not to imitate the missteps of US State prosecutors in seeking to punish pregnant women based on conditions they face. Rather, amici urged that the issue of addiction and perinatal loss be addressed through a restorative rather than punitive framework. We are thrilled to let you know that as a result of these efforts all of the criminal charges have now been dropped.


NAPW – Being Honored, Being There


NAPW at the 2004 March for Women's Lives. Rally with us again. You don't have to be pregnant but you do have to value pregnant women!

As you may know, Congress and state legislatures across the country are making women, especially pregnant women, the focus of their legislative activity . . . but not in a good way. Rather than propose legislation that would, for example, reduce America's appalling rates of maternal and infant mortality, provide paid leave for parents (as pretty much every other western industrialized country does), or address the real economic problems that working families face, federal and state legislators are proposing bills that would deprive pregnant women of their constitutional and human rights.

The US House of Representatives voted to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. One of the many other bills pending is called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. NAPW knows that this bill and the others are really the No Justice for Pregnant Women Acts. Bills being proposed would significantly cut funding for the Women Infant and Children (WIC) program, an essential nutrition program for pregnant women and children. Other bills would cut Title X Family Planning altogether; allow hospitals to refuse to treat a pregnant woman who needs an abortion even in emergencies such as ectopic pregnancies; and limit funding for abortion unless a woman can prove that she was physically brutalized in addition to being raped. These proposals particularly target low-income mothers and children.

But that is not all. Legislators are also proposing new feticide laws and laws justifying murder in defense of the unborn. They are also proposing laws that would create special, sex discriminatory, criminal penalties for pregnant women who use any amount of any illegal drug. Some proposed laws would create special birth penalties, punishing drug using pregnant women if they go to term. NAPW is making sure that people committed to Reproductive Justice understand that these laws undermine maternal, fetal and child health and are part of a long-term strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade and expand the war on drugs to women's wombs.
In the spirit of the amazing Act-Up activists whose direct action changed law and policy to ensure health care and dignity for people with HIV and AIDS . . .
We say: Knocked-up? Fight Back!


Kentucky Sit-In, February 14, 2011


“We are not in a yielding frame of mind.”

That’s how author Wendell Berry described a group of twenty KFTC [Kentuckians for the Commonwealth] members as they entered the Kentucky Governor’s office on Friday morning.  They were there with a set of demands for the Governor, all related to ending mountaintop removal and investing in a New Power future for Kentucky and Kentuckians.

 The group’s request of a meeting with the Governor was at first denied, but by the afternoon, the Governor relented and met with the group for forty minutes.  However, as he only agreed to one of their demands, they informed him they were not leaving his office.  Initially, it looked as if they would be arrested, an outcome they anticipated and prepared for.  But then the Governor said they could stay as long as they liked.  So they settled in for a weekend in the lobby of the Governor’s office.

 They scrambled to collect pillows and food before the office doors closed on them.  But then a funny thing happened.  Thanks to new and old media, the word got out and got out fast.  People around the country were calling in on their cellphones, sending emails, watching live streaming video from the Capitol slumber party, tweeting and posting to facebook.  A special blog, Kentucky Rising, went up with photos and press releases and profiles and interviews.  By 7:00 that evening, new friends from Tampa, Florida had ordered pizza to be delivered to the protesters – enough that the group shared their dinner with the Capital custodial staff and the State Police keeping watch.  The party was on.

 The protesters have been in the Capitol all weekend.  They’ve conducted numerous interviews with media, organized live streaming interviews about the history of organizing in the coalfields and the state of the movement today, and they organized their own spiritual service this morning. 

 And the outpouring of support has been overwhelming.  So much food has been brought to the office threshold that the protesters have sent the overflow to the local domestic violence shelter.  People have called and written from all over the world.  Bill McKibben spoke about the protest in Vermont last night and he is over-nighting a petition with the signatures of 500 supportive Vermont farmers.  The story has been on NPR’s national broadcast and a major story in Kentucky media.  Musical events in Northern Kentucky, Louisville, and Lexington this weekend featured the stories of the protesters.

On Sunday afternoon, 150 people showed up at an impromptu rally, in solidarity with the protestors who were locked inside and could not come out.  The rally was organized by a local immigrant rights organization – perhaps in recognition of KFTC’s stand and role in fighting abusive immigration reform.  They delivered a homemade Mexican meal for the protesters and then led loud, sustained chant of “Si Se Puedo - Yes We Can!”

 Monday is our long anticipated, “I Love Mountains Day” rally at the State Capitol. We are expecting a thousand people will gather at the Kentucky River.  They will absorb a group that has marched from Eastern Kentucky over the previous two weeks and then march up Capital Avenue and around the State Capitol to rally on the steps.  Speakers will include a retired coal miner, an Appalachian author, and Congressman John Yarmuth from Louisville. A highlight will be when the “Kentucky 14” emerge from inside the Capitol Building.  We anticipate applause.

 This has been an extraordinary weekend, tightly organized and totally spontaneous.  We have plans for what’s next, and are preparing for the unanticipated.  We are focusing all of this energy on building New Power, of every kind.  Ivy Brashear, a student from Eastern Kentucky, is speaking at the rally tomorrow with the message for the Governor and the legislators of  “New Power is knocking on Old Power’s door!”

 Wendell Berry is but one of the thousands of eloquent voices of this movement, but he is a good one.  In an interview today, he spoke about the future:

 “All of us who are interested in stopping this terrible damage, and this terrible oppression of people, and the terrible effects that will go on and on because water flows; all of us understand that we are not approaching a time to quit.”

 More soon.  Here are links to lots more information about what is going on.

 


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