Marie Sanchez

[1][3] As a human rights defender she was an active member of the International Indian Treaty Council, NOW and the Elk Horn Scrapers.

[5] On April, 15, 1977 she appeared on the television show called Woman of WNED-TV and discussed in-depth the concerns of American Indian women.

[1][2] During the conference she mentioned the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970 which was enacted by the Nixon administration.

[2] In a span of six years it resulted in circa 25% involuntary sterilization of Native American women and has been described as a modern genocide.

[2] By the late 1970s Sanchez and others' activism enabled some improvement of federal regulations to reduce unwanted sterilization procedures.