A new law was signed in Pennsylvania on Monday to give breastfeeding moms more rights and freedoms when breastfeeding in public. The bill was introduced earlier this year when a woman was kicked out of a shopping mall for breastfeeding her infant. After the incident, nursing women staged a nurse-in at the capital asking for laws to protect moms from such things happening.
This is a step forward for Pennsylvania no doubt, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why it would take so long for all states to adopt laws. There was also a bit of controversy and while breastfeeding advocates are supportive of the bill some concessions had to be made in order to get it to pass.
First of all, the language that a woman had the ‘right to breastfeed’ was changed to the ‘freedom to nurse her child.’ Also, the clause giving women the right to sue an establishment if she were harassed or made to leave was taken out of the bill.
I certainly am not criticizing the law. Rather I am wondering when the 10 states who don’t have such public breastfeeding laws will get a clue. But there are a few things that I will never understand.
The first is why we need a law to begin with. I recognize that breastfeeding women get harassed or bothered and that a law may help women feel more comfortable about breastfeeding publicly as well as offer protection. What I can’t figure out is why someone would harass a breastfeeding woman. I can guarantee you that I’ve shown less skin breastfeeding in public for more than eight years, than many of the clothing styles seen today.
The second thing that I can’t figure out is why it is moms lobbying for these laws. Of course I understand why they are lobbying. . .what I mean is why aren’t doctors? It seems to me that pediatricians especially should have been lobbying for these types of laws years ago.
In any case, kudos to Pennsylvania for signing a long overdue bill into law this week!