Tennessee Breastfeeding law

[adtake]

Hello all..I know it's been a while since this was visited, but I feel it might be time for another round of emails, letters and calls. As you may or may not know the TN law on breastfeeding has a age limitation of 12 months.

Here is the actuall law
http://tennessee.gov/sos/acts/104/pub/pc0617.pdf

Here is a list of the Senators who are listed on the law:

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Not sure if they all are still in office, but can't hurt to hit the whole list.

If anyone else has anything to add, please do!!

thanks!

[billikengirl]

I'd love to know the history of the law and why they put in that restriction. I moved to TN 3 years ago and am dismayed about the time limit on NIP.

[annekh23]

Well, I'm not in Tennessee and I have my own sticky stuff to deal with right now, but having read the law, it suggests lack of research as WHO recommendations about 2 years are not mentioned.

On the positive side, my reading of it is that regardless of age breastfeeding is not indecent exposure or nudity, just that your right to do it isn't protected, so it becomes a sort of grey area, you don't have a right to do it, but there isn't anything illegal about it either!

I can't claim knowledge of every law in the world, but any that I have seen with an age limitation do at least use 2yrs as the limit, by which stage, it's much harder to be confident of the exact age of a child and many extended breastfeeders are beginning to apply limits anyway - not ideal legal wording, but not really worth fighting over.

Good luck to TN mums on fighting this, but lets at least be thankful they got this far!

[haydn'smommy]

I hate the wording on this. I'm in TN and love the part about any location, public or private, but the rest of it is crap. I hate them putting an age limit on what is okay.

[indie]

The House version of the bill was sponsored by Beverly Marrero who apparently is in the Senate now. I would contact her if I were you. From what I understood at the time the bill she originally sponsored did NOT have the 12 months language but it was added as a compromise to get more legislators on board with co-sponsoring and eventually passing the bill. I don't like the language at all and almost feel that it would be better to have no law at all than this one, but I can see what they were trying to do. I'm sure they decided that this would protect the overwhelming majority of breastfeeding mothers in Tennessee so they went ahead and compromised so they wouldn't lose the entire thing.

Here's her email: [e-mail]
When you contact her remember that she's on your side. She was one of the folks who tried to get the bill we wanted through originally.

[haydn'smommy]

Originally Posted by indie

The House version of the bill was sponsored by Beverly Marrero who apparently is in the Senate now. I would contact her if I were you. From what I understood at the time the bill she originally sponsored did NOT have the 12 months language but it was added as a compromise to get more legislators on board with co-sponsoring and eventually passing the bill. I don't like the language at all and almost feel that it would be better to have no law at all than this one, but I can see what they were trying to do. I'm sure they decided that this would protect the overwhelming majority of breastfeeding mothers in Tennessee so they went ahead and compromised so they wouldn't lose the entire thing.

Here's her email: [e-mail]
When you contact her remember that she's on your side. She was one of the folks who tried to get the bill we wanted through originally.

Thank you! I will write her and I will bring it up at our BF Coalition meeting next month.

[coffeegirl]

That's so weird. Do they even give a reason for the age limit??

[LaffNowCryLater]

TN is so backwards. Keep in mind, in TN corporal punishment in schools is still legal and a husband was still legally allowed to rape his wife up until 2008. But OH NO!! Don't BF in public past 12 months!

[plantmama]

Ironically TN is the only place I've seen someone breastfeeding a toddler in public who I didn't know personally. Dh is from TN and we go there a couple times a year. I don't like the wording either. Not that there should ever be an age limit but 1? Many extended bf children still nurse a ton at that age. If it was 2 I could see, still wouldn't like it.