RAPID CITY, S.D., June 14 (UPI) -- South Dakota's Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder is fighting tribal council efforts to keep her from speaking to the media.
"That's a violation of my constitutional rights," she said in an interview with the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal.
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council suspended Fire Thunder last month and is trying to impeach her for proposing an abortion clinic on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and for allegedly raising money for the clinic.
She proposed the clinic in response to South Dakota's abortion ban -- a new law that is headed for a statewide referrendum in November. Fire Thunder said the new state law might not apply to a clinic on the reservation and women throughout the state could use it, the newspaper said.
Fire Thunder said the suspension letter ordered her not to talk to the media. The tribal council has since banned abortions on the reservation, the newspaper said.
