[MNmom]

I have a 6 mth old baby and have been summoned for jury duty. I am nursing. I told the court administrator and she said she could grant me a one-time 1 yr postponment. (After she said "Well how long are you going to nurse the kid?").

:

My concern is that we are planning on having another child who may likely be due around the time my jury duty time would come up again. I do not want to have to leave a newborn baby then and I don't want to leave my first born then either.

I thought that MN had a law exempting nursing mothers who are not employed outside of the home. A call to the Attorney General's office however confirmed that that law was only proposed, never passed. We have no protection here in Minnesota.

I am waiting for a call back from my state senator. I would like to try to push for legislation that would protect moms of young children.

Please understand I support the jury system and have served on jury duty before. I just don't want to have to leave my baby or have nursing interrupted. People seem to think that since you can pump your milk, there is no reason not to separate a mother and baby!

Does anyone have any info or knowledge or interest about this subject?

 

[adoremybabe]

Not sure if this will help but I live in Wisconsin and 3 times while I was in college I was summoned for jury duty. Each time I made a call and said that I am a full time college student and I can not afford to get away from class. So they exempted me for the time being. I would think and hope that nursing a child or being very near a due date would be even more important.

 

[Dreaming]

nak
i had something about jury selection sent to me when i was pregnant with my first.
the form said that if i was the primary caregiver to a minor 10 or under i could be relieved.
i wrote back saying that i was due with an infant who would be exclusively breastfed and never heard from them again.

"...A person having primary care and custody of a child or children under 10 years of age whose health and/or safety would be jeopardized by the absence of the prospective juror; or a person who is essential to the care of aged or infirm persons…"

Here is a link with some info on MN jury laws

 

[MNmom]

Federal court does excuse parents caring for children under 10.
District courts have no such laws.

Thank you for the website link. The site has lots of information on getting family-friendly jury laws enacted. I am working on a letter to my legistlator asking her to sponsor a bill next session.

On a side note, I called Hennepin Cty Court to ask what their policy was. She explained to me how they have a new mother's room for pumping milk. While this is a good thing, it seems to me that with the advent of pumping milk, people no longer think it necessary for babies to be with their mothers. It is as if they think as long as you can pump and someone else can feed your baby the breastmilk, your baby doesn't need you.

Beyond needing their mothers, short-term, high quality, at a moment's notice childcare for infants is not an easy thing to find. My husband and I have made lots of sacrifices so I can be home with my child. I don't think the state should be in the business of separating mothers and babies.