Guest post by Myrna Thompson, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
Pregnancy is a sacred time in many Native communities.
For example, in the Dakota Way of Life, women are viewed as Sacred. They are Sacred because new life comes through them. They carry their baby for nine months, giving good health and nourishment to the Sacred Being that lives inside of her. Her body is her baby’s home!
Women are life-givers as our Creator has planned; our people are still here, generation after generation, due to the strength of the woman to carry life and give birth. As life-givers, we must ensure that we are keeping a clean, uncontaminated home for our unborn.
One way to protect the Sacred Being is by not drinking any alcohol throughout the entire pregnancy.
Not drinking is a choice made by many Native women during pregnancy. In fact, Native Americans are more likely to abstain from alcohol in general compared to other communities, with 60% of Native Americans choosing to abstain.
However, alcohol use during pregnancy continues to be a complicated public health issue, and there are many reasons why a pregnancy might be exposed to alcohol. This includes unplanned pregnancy, high rates of stress and trauma, and having an alcohol use disorder.
Because of this, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is still common. Almost every community in the world includes people who have an FASD. The research isn’t clear about how common FASD is in Native American communities—and because each tribal community is so different, it’s likely that the rates are very different amongst different communities. Overall, 1 in 20 children in the United States has an FASD.
To learn more about FASD in Native communities, visit “Our Children Are Sacred” at ProofAlliance.org, or download the Our Children Are Sacred app on iPhone or Android.
This article first appeared on the Our Children Are Sacred app.
