Texas Lactivism

[Delta]

I contacted the representative (Jessica Farrar) who introduced the beefed up breastfeeding legislation last session that was left pending in committee to see if she'd be doing the same this upcoming session in January.

Her aide wrote me back and said indeed she would be - it's already been refiled and with 'penalties for repeated violations' which I am assuming means for businesses who kick out breastfeeding moms, such as the restaurant in Round Rock.

I will keep this thread posted when I get a bill number and when any action is taken on it.

Ideally we can organize an awareness campaign for our local representatives about what it is like to be a breastfeeding mom (pumping is not always an option, babies nurse A LOT, etc.) and we can get this bill passed this time!!



(The one thing that does concern me is the penalties for businesses - the lege is VERY business friendly so on one hand while it may sound good to us, they will might not like that aspect of the bill especially if they don't understand breastfeeding anyway.)

[lml41981]

I don't hold out much hope for my representative. When I wrote her to tell her I support increased protection for breastfeeding moms, she wrote back that she didn't because she thinks women ought to seek out a private place to nurse.

[Delta]

Well, all the more reason you need to explain to her why that's not so easy. :

[Sharondio]

Originally Posted by lml41981

I don't hold out much hope for my representative. When I wrote her to tell her I support increased protection for breastfeeding moms, she wrote back that she didn't because she thinks women ought to seek out a private place to nurse.

Well then. I'd write back that you're grateful to have a private place to vote.

[mamaboobaAES]

Since when does what a business like or dislike have anything to do with human rights

I have written to the people who are proposing the changes. I got the same sort of response, that they are going to try, but that the lobby might stop them.

A penalty for REPEAT offenses? COme on! How many times do you give criminals a second chance? No, you arrest them and make them pay the penalty for what they did!

If someone violates your rights, until the law gets more stringent, I say sue first and ask questions later.

We should all be taking this a lot more seriously than we are.

It is time to put a stop to all the crap that people think they can get away with. If we let them get away with it and get off easy, they are going to keep doing it and doing it worse!

[Delta]

I have written to the people who are proposing the changes. I got the same sort of response, that they are going to try, but that the lobby might stop them.

Who did you write too, exactly? And which lobby?

A penalty for REPEAT offenses? COme on! How many times do you give criminals a second chance? No, you arrest them and make them pay the penalty for what they did!

Well, the problem is that it's not a crime in the first place in Texas to kick out a bfing woman. Yes, there is a law that says a woman can breastfeed anywhere he or she is otherwise allowed to be, but in reality nothing happens to the business that kicks them out. We'll see what exactly the language is when we can see the bill.

[mamaboobaAES]

The people trying to add teeth to the law have a yahoo group. I'm on it and I wrote my comments about the proposed changes. They mentioned the penalty thing might not go over well with "the business lobby."

Isn't a human rights violation considered a crime?

[Delta]

The people trying to add teeth to the law have a yahoo group.

Can you pm me that group?

Isn't a human rights violation considered a crime?

Not unless it's specifically addressed in the penal code.

[Sustainer]

Originally Posted by Delta

Can you pm me that group?

Me too. I have family in TX who may be interested in joining.

[lml41981]

Originally Posted by Delta

Yes, there is a law that says a woman can breastfeed anywhere he or she is otherwise allowed to be, but in reality nothing happens to the business that kicks them out.

It is my understanding that a breastfeeding mother has the right to breastfeed where she has the authorization to be - not where she is otherwise authorized to be, which is what makes our law weak. According to some family members who are law enforcement officers, a woman *can* have her authorization to be present revoked and if she refuses to leave, she can be charged with trespassing.

o/t...Are you the Delta I think you are?

[annekevdbroek]

Originally Posted by mamaboobaAES

The people trying to add teeth to the law have a yahoo group. I'm on it and I wrote my comments about the proposed changes. They mentioned the penalty thing might not go over well with "the business lobby."

Isn't a human rights violation considered a crime?

Could you PM me the contact information also? I will happily write my state representative on this issue.

Thanks!

[Delta]

o/t...Are you the Delta I think you are?

I sure am.

According to some family members who are law enforcement officers, a woman *can* have her authorization to be present revoked and if she refuses to leave, she can be charged with trespassing.

Which is such bullcrap.

[mamaboobaAES]

Originally Posted by lml41981

It is my understanding that a breastfeeding mother has the right to breastfeed where she has the authorization to be - not where she is otherwise authorized to be, which is what makes our law weak. According to some family members who are law enforcement officers, a woman *can* have her authorization to be present revoked and if she refuses to leave, she can be charged with trespassing.

o/t...Are you the Delta I think you are?

Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 165:
"A mother is entitled to breastfeed her baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to be."

I have to disagree. I don't think it matters how you state the law. People in this culture don't care what it says when it comes to breastfeeding. They think it's their right to pressure you and make you uncomfortable, remove you from flights, violate your human rights (these are God-given, not whatever some person at the capitol has decided to write down when they got bored one day and tired of passing roads funding allocations and answering to lobbyists), threaten to arrest you, harass you, name call, etc.

If her authorization is "revoked" and courts are allowing that to stand, then it's time to appeal that. Do whatever you have to do.

Have people in this country lost all respect for the constitution? How about basic decency?

Babies are completely dependent on their parents' whims. They should not have to be subject to the whims of ignorant strangers, real or hypothetical, "legally" or illegally acting to oppress us.

I can ask for permission to post the bill yahoo group here.

The implied rights of the constitution are supposed to protect us. This should be a no-brainer issue, an easy thing to pass in congress to clarify and nullify all the unconstitutional stuff happening to moms, but people here on this board seem to have more respect for what is written down somewhere in a backwards state's "law" book, or what an anti-bf person is saying, than they do for honest God-given, inalienable rights protected by our constitution.

People are more supportive of bf rights once they start fearing that you'll turn them in to the media or sue them.

If that is what it takes, then we need to do it. It's time for people to realize that we will not put up with their total oppression of our children.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by Sharondio

Well then. I'd write back that you're grateful to have a private place to vote.

: laughup :

[lml41981]

Originally Posted by mamaboobaAES

Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 165:
"A mother is entitled to breastfeed her baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to be."

I have to disagree. I don't think it matters how you state the law. People in this culture don't care what it says when it comes to breastfeeding. They think it's their right to pressure you and make you uncomfortable, remove you from flights, violate your human rights (these are God-given, not whatever some person at the capitol has decided to write down when they got bored one day and tired of passing roads funding allocations and answering to lobbyists), threaten to arrest you, harass you, name call, etc.

If her authorization is "revoked" and courts are allowing that to stand, then it's time to appeal that. Do whatever you have to do.

It absolutely matters how you state the law. Until a judge interprets the law to say what the spirit of the law is, it is the letter of the law that matters. I'm not saying I agree with the loophole, I am just saying there is a loophole that businesses can exploit (and considering how Texas loves her business owners, are we really surprised?).

Also, my BIL and sister are lactivists, themselves. They would never willingly arrest a breastfeed mother for refusing to leave private property, but the point is that until the legislation is changed to remove the ability to revoke a woman's authorization to be there because she's breastfeeding, a business owner can say, "Well, you're not authorized to be here anymore, so you must leave." And if that happens, then the woman can be arrested for trespassing if she refuses to comply.

As far as I'm aware, no mother in Texas has been arrested for trespassing, so no judge has had the ability to say, "This is my interpretation of this law."

Also, our statute is not in the Penal Code, so the police can't really enforce it anyway (much like the police can't really enforce health codes in restaurants).

I think our law needs to be rewritten to remove the loophole, add in punitive measures and move it to the penal code so that it can be enforced by the police instead of just written to act as a pacifier. Additionally, I believe our statutes for indecency, lewdness and nudity need to be amended to clarify that breastfeeding is not considered any of those things. Aleady, those particular statutes mention nothing of breasts, which means that breastfeeding isn't included, but it would be nice to have it spelled out for people who still think breasts are genitals.

[lml41981]

That law, which was enacted in 1995, is part of the Texas Health and
Human Safety Code, section 165.002. It states that “A mother is entitled
to breast-feed her baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to
be.” The law is generally interpreted to mean that a woman may breastfeed
anywhere she was allowed to be before she attempted to nurse.
But interpretation is everything.
“‘Authorized to be’ is not defined in the statute, but is commonly
understood to be any public location where you or any other citizen has a
right to be,” says Rani Garcia, a Dallas attorney who is part of the newly
formed Texas Breastfeeding Coalition. “So if it’s a privately owned
piece of property—such as a restaurant or an entertainment locale—that
is where they have a right to ask you to leave if you’re breastfeeding.”

And they often do. In November 2004, the 620 Cafe in Round Rock asked a mother to leave when she began breastfeeding her infant.
The incident inspired a group of mothers to stage a “nurse-in” at the
restaurant—something that drew police, who later admitted in a written
statement that they had no choice but to remove the breastfeeding
women because the restaurant was a private establishment and had a
right to refuse service to anyone except those in protected classes (for
instance, minorities or disabled people).

http://parentwiseaustin.com/Archive/2006/09_September/2006_09_PWA.pdf

That is a very interesting article about our current law and explains it much better than I (which is perhaps why I am a mere peon and not an attorney).

[mamaboobaAES]

Breastfeeding is already excluded from indecent exposure... the law refers to anus or genitals. A woman may go topless in TX anywhere a man can.

Inequality should be corrected by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. A bottle feeding mom would not have to worry about any of this.

Babies are "disabled"

You can't discriminate against someone because of their age (baby)

Human rights violations are illegal woldwide

Perhaps we should go to the UN Human Rights Commission instead of the ^%$@@&-@## Texas or US Courts

Either way, a better set of laws in TX would be fantastic. But my point is that we don't have to worry about local & state laws, the US Constitution trumps anything that is unconstitutional throughout the US

I studied obscenity, pornography, & constitutional law in college. I highly doubt based on the precedent that nursing would be considered indecent or obscene. "A captive audience" for BF doesn't exist, and the amt. of breast showing is usually nothing, even if you are fully exposed for a second it's not provocative, it's for an essential purpose. I am not an attorney, so I am not caught up in whatever it is that seems to turn some police or courts or lawyers into callous "get away with whatever I want to" lawmongerers.

The average person doesn't know the law anyway, what matters most is our values.

The more we stand up for our values the more they seep in and become accepted in society as self-evident.

Breastfeeding is a basic human right and a baby is innocent & helpless and certainly deserves more protection than the business lobby or anyone who is offended by nursing. Businesses cannot kick you out because you're black, muslim, female, etc. Why should babies be any different? Women don't usually try to BF in adult only establishments.

[lml41981]

Preachin' to the choir mamaboobaAES. I've oft contemplated not bothering with a shirt as I go check the mail...alas, my own modesty stops me at the door as I grab a tank.

I just want the law clarified so that idiots have even less of a leg to stand on and so that the cops who come to defend our right to be there have something concrete to point to when they tell the person, "Sorry you're offended, but she's not doing anything wrong according to nature or Texas law."

Also, I'm not entirely certain about babies being a member of the protected class. I am not saying they're not, but I've never heard it before. I'd have to read more on that.

Not sure what complaining to the UN would do. The US has already opted not to enforce The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes or whatever longwinded title the WHO gave it. The US would probably just opt not the enforce this UN mandate, too.

Also, I absolutely agree that the more we stand up for our rights, the faster change will happen... I just think we need better protection while we *do* stand up for our rights. The law is only as good as its enforceability, and right now it isn't. And you're right...the average person *doesn't* know the law. But you can bet when I hand the manager the License to Breastfeed, he'll either read it and say, "Oh, well you no longer have the authorization to be here. Leave or I'll call the cops." It has happened far too many times...and the women haven't been backed by the cops when the cops were called (though they also were not arrested).

[PJJ]

Private place

Can you EVER equate a baby's right to feed with segregation and how others of different races once had to be separated from others?

Just a thought.

[Baby Hopes]

I'm subbing in and also was wondering if someone could PM the yahoo link. Thanks bunches.