The Unconceived Truth 19th-Century Obstructions in the Bodily Autonomy of Crow Women

Abstract

Throughout Indigenous Peoples’ history, a painful and unrelenting pattern emerges: the narratives and hardships of Indigenous men are stories often amplified over those of Indigenous women by historians. Stories of the Zapatista Movement, the Chiapas’ rejection of oppressive policies, and the Seminole people’s resistance against the government are often recounted in history books. However, the cruelest injustice, often overshadowed, is how governmental institutions have encroached upon the most sacred and intimate element of Native tribes’ existence: Native women’s bodies and reproductive freedoms. Despite the United States’ efforts to diminish the bodily autonomy of Crow women through deliberate and eugenic practices, Crow women and all Native women broadly have discovered successful outlets to preserve and safeguard their bodily autonomy throughout the early to mid-20th century.44 Through the exploration of the Crow tribe, this research paper grants a more expansive lens into the reproductive barriers faced by many Indigenous tribes across the US.