Mississippi Breastfeeding Bill on Way to Governor

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Friday, March 17, 2006

I wrote back in January about a set of pro-breastfeeding bills working their way through Mississippi in order to provide more protection for mothers breastfeeding in public and for mother's needing to express milk in the workplace.

There's a story on the AP Wire today that says the breastfeeding bill has passed both the House and the Senate and that it is on its way to the governor's desk to be signed. The article mentions that the bill now includes an exemption from jury duty for nursing mothers with children under the age of one, making Mississippi's suite of breastfeeding laws similar to those that have been enacted in other states over the past year. Mississippi also becomes just the second state (Louisiana is the first) to require day care centers to make adjustments for mothers that wish to visit their children during the day in order to nurse them.

Only one Senator voted against the bill and he states that he did so based on one set of wording, not on the changes they would actually make to the law.

Sen. Tommy Robertson, R-Moss Point, was the only senator to vote against the bill and he said the statement was the reason.

"I don't like the idea of making statements in bills," Robertson said. "Some people are unable to breast-feed their kids, and I don't think it's right that we say it's not nutritional."

Labels: Lactivism

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