Options for Sexual Health

By Jessica Yee | June 22, 2009 | RH Reality Check

I am Native. And I'm pro-choice. Many people seem to think this is an oxymoron - but to me, it makes perfect sense. I have unraveled much of the oppression I was forced to swallow and internalize over the years, which obstructed my ability to wholly see that concepts of "choice" and having "options" in our sexual and reproductive lives are really not new things at all. Moreover, I am entitled to advocate for choice from within my culture, which has always valued women's choices and decision-making.  First and second wave feminism did not "give" my people reproductive rights; in fact those of us in Native communities had them a long time ago. And how "pro-choice" identities play out in our communities now probably looks a lot different than what most people think.

Historically, in the Shuswap Nation we were and still are matriarchal.  Within our Shuswap band, women were trained as midwives by grandmothers and elderly women.  They were also trained in female ceremonies around the menstrual cycle, as well as the many powers of women and our development (from childhood to adulthood).  Shuswap women used Native medicines to keep from becoming pregnant or to end a pregnancy.  Pregnancy was ended if hardships occurred within family and community, such as shortage of food, long winters, etc.  These hardships were things that could cause numerous deaths within the family and community and could not be prevented.

Shuswap Women had total control over their bodies.  They were taught by women at an early age about roles and responsibilities as a child, youth, adult and elder.

- Wilma K. Boyce (Shuswap Nation) Canim Lake Band, Canim Lake, BC

Throughout history, many Indigenous women around the world have interacted with other Indigenous women through various women's societies, which held respected positions of significant political power. Looking closer at traditional teachings and practices within First Nations, Inuit, and Métis nations throughout North America, it is evident that methods of family planning and birth control, including abortion, were performed as necessary procedures to ensure the health and welfare of communities which have women at its core. Although we are vastly diverse in terms of societal structure, whether matriarchal (e.g. Mohawk) or egalitarian (e.g. Inuit), it is clear that the right to govern one's own body and take care of it they way we choose, is a foundational principle shared amongst us all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1usOcC4u68&feature=player_embedded