DEI Special Edition Spring / Summer 2024
have a collective geographical area of only 56.2 million acres which represents only 2.3% of the United States. There should be awareness that American Indi- an boarding schools, more recently known as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid - 17th to the early 20th centuries in an effort to assimilate Native American children into Anglo - American culture. In addition to being forcibly removed from their families the children were forbidden from using their own languages and names, as well as from practicing their religion and culture and they were subjected to medical
experiments. As an example, over the six - year period following the pas- sage of the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970, physicians sterilized perhaps 25% of Native American women of childbear- ing age, and there is evidence sug- gesting that the numbers were actu- ally even higher. Currently, obstetri- cal deserts in rural Native communi- ties is at a crisis with pregnant wom- an having to travel some of the long- est distances in the country for ob- stetric care, many driving more than 100 miles one way. Many reservation facilities lack adequate staffing to
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