Violence against Native American Women Shocking

I wrote this entry for the LSRJ blog, but thought I would post it here, too for a different audience. I have been to three unique events at the law school in the past two weeks that have left me feeling discouraged, called to action and confident that my choice to work in health law is the right one.

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As I sat in the audience at Friday’s symposium on “Law, Gender & Citizenship: Contemporary Issues for American Indians and American Immigrants,” I was shocked by what I learned about the endemic sexual violence perpetrated against Native American women in the United States. Data indicates that a minimum of one out of three Native American women has been the victim of sexual violence. One of the speakers shared that in conducting her research she had yet to talk with a Native American woman who had not been the victim of sexual violence. Research further shows that 80% of perpetrators of these crimes are non-Native American persons. High rates of women being violently sexually assaulted by men not of her ethnic or racial group, like this, are the type of statistics I have come to associate with war zones rather than common life experiences.

The violence perpetrated against Native American women, however, is only one of the many offenses carried out against them. The U.S. government under the responsibilities assigned to Indian Health Services (HIS) is responsible for providing all health care services Native American Indians. However, the U.S. government and IHS have failed to meet this mandate. Native American Indians must often travel long distances to reach health facilities whose services are limited.

In many cases when a Native American woman is sexually assaulted there is either no rape kit available at the health facility, or no trained nurse to administer a rape kit that may be available. IHS is not required to stock Emergency Contraception or Plan B, an important element of compassionate care for sexual assault victims. Plan B allows the victim some protection against unintended pregnancy. Native American women also have no access to abortion services under IHS because the Hyde Amendment bans the use of federal funding for abortions. So even where a woman is able to get an abortion due to rape, a Native American woman who relies on IHS for health care is prevented from doing so.

Adding to the weight of these traumatic experiences is Native American women’s lack of recourse against the perpetrators. Tribal courts no longer have jurisdiction over any non-Native persons. This means that for a Native American woman to attempt to find just in the judicial system, she must turn to the U.S. state court system that has jurisdiction over the perpetrator. Considering the history of abuse of authority on the part of U.S. government officials there is little reason for Native American women to have any faith or trust in the state court system bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to trial (let alone the hurdles for all sexual assault cases in trying to reach a guilty of verdict).

Next month is Sexual Assault Awareness month and our Wisconsin LSRJ Chapter is planning a number of activities to raise awareness. But awareness is just the first step. After awareness the more important question becomes, “what am I going to do about it?”

**I want to thank the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society for organizing the symposium that brought this issue to my attention, and to Rebecca Hart, whose presentation “Federal Reservations: Sexual Violence Against Native American Women and the Denial of Reproductive Healthcare Services,” fueled much of this thought.