I have permission to re-post this note that was originally sent to Lactnet.
Janice
Janice kindly posted the news of a new breastfeeding ordinance that was passed by the Dane County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors last night. I was there and testified in behalf of the bill. The legislator who introduced the bill, Carousel Bayrd, is a civil rights
lawyer, and herself a nursing mother of an 11 month old daughter.
She introduced the bill based on her personal experiences. The text of the bill is: "No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child or expressing breast milk within any public accommodation where the mother would otherwise be authorized to be."
Contrary to the news release, it is my understanding that the ordinance covers only property under the control of the county, such as our regional airport, county parks and the zoo, not all settings everywhere within the county. (This is similar to the federal bill which protects breastfeeding mothers on federal property). It doesn't read like that, though, so it is confusing. Another, similar ordinance will soon be introduced before the Madison City Council, and a breastfeeding bill that last year got tied up in committee in the Wisconsin State Senate will be reintroduced again this year.
The discussion at the County board meeting was very interesting (and frustrating). All legislators who rose to speak prefaced their remarks with a statement supporting "breastfeeding, mom, and apple pie." Each had an anecdote about how they or their family personally
experienced breastfeeding. Many then went on to raise objections to
the bill. I want to list some of those objections, so others that are working on breastfeeding legislation can better prepare to address these issues.
A common complaint was that the law was not needed. Several said a state law already protects breastfeeding mothers. (Actually, a Wisconsin bill that was signed into law on March 22, 1996, merely excludes breastfeeding from the definition of lewd and lascivious behavior. It does nothing to positively affirm a woman's right to breastfeed free of harassment.)
One female legislator stated that she had breastfed and never faced the slightest problem, therefore the law was unnecessary. "You can't regulate everything." She called a witness from the county health department to testify that they already did a lot to support breastfeeding, and that no one had called the county health department to complain that they were harassed for nursing in public.
Some stated that it would be preferable to engage in education and support initiatives rather than work on legal measures to protect breastfeeding.
One male legislator questioned whether arrests for interfering with a mother's right to breastfeed would unnecessarily fill up tight jail space. He was also concerned about the fine. (The fine or jail term were not specific to this bill, but are for any conviction for being a "public nuisance." It was agreed that a jail term would be
exceedinly rare). Another legislator asked how the sheriff's
deputies could be expected to deal with disputes about whether a mother was really harassed if it ended up in a "he said, she said"
argument. Another questioned whether a man complaining about a woman breastfeeding would be charged with sexual harassment. Still another related an anecdote that happened in Paris, France where a woman was
publicly breastfeeding ("NOT discreetly,") and a man who could not
help ogling had his wallet stolen by an accomplice of the woman while he was thus distracted.
No one commented on the bill's inclusion of a mother's right to express milk as well as to breastfeed in public.
In the end, the vote total was 24 in favor of the ordinance, 10 against, and 3 absent. Therefore it passed.
We breastfeeding advocates learned from this experience that we
should have met together to prepare and coordinate our statements.
No one knew who else was comiung to the hearing. Each person who registered had only 3 - 5 minutes to speak. Three of us registered and spoke. Others registered in support of the bill but didn't choose to speak. We were not permitted to enter into the later discussion or correct misconceptions or erroneous statements the legislators made. No visual props were allowed. (I had brought some posters of breastfeeding in public to emphasize that this was no big deal, such as the "Breastfeeding: Anytime, Anywhere" series from Canada, the "Give Your Child the Best, Breastfeed" photo of three breastfeeding women at an outdoor cafe, the "Loving Support Makes Breastfeeding Work" posters, and Vermont's "Breastfeeding is a special time for everyone.")
It was a waste of time to try to speak to the benefits of breastfeeding. Everyone already agrees with this information. What
we needed to convey was why this particular bill was needed now.
Unfortunately, the legislators had seemingly not read the testimonials submitted in writing ahead of time by mothers who suffered embarrassment or discrimination. They didn't seem aware of recent cases in the news media, either locally or nationally, where mothers suffered harassment for breastfeeding in public.
Finally, I want to encourage all involved in legislative initiatives
to look at the La Leche League web site at
www.lalecheleague.org.
Click on "Breastfeeding Information" and then on "Breastfeeding and the Law." Under that there are topics for USA and for the World, a listing of current legislation for every state in the US, advice on wording of legislation, and much more.
Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
dsulman@wisc.edu
What a wonderful law! If they started fineing people for harrassing a BFing mother maybe that would send a message that it is not acceptable. Money talks, after all.
: Obviously those people (well it never happened to ME so it must not happen) don't look at the news very often eh?
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