Push for Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Legislation
Looking for The Lactivist? She's retired. But you CAN still find Jen blogging. These days, she's runs A Flexible Life. Join her for life, recipes, projects and the occasional rant. |
Saturday, March 10, 2007
On the heels of one of the largest nurse-ins the country has ever seen, there's an increasing push for Pennsylvania to create and pass comprehensive breastfeeding related legislation that would protect the rights of babies to eat when and where they are hungry and to protect their mothers when they fulfill those needs.PA House Representative Babette Josephs has already introduced legislation
State Senator Connie Williams has introduced legislation in the senate. That bill (SB 34) would give mothers the legal right to breastfeeding their child in public, would keep local governments from enacting ordinances prohibiting breastfeeding in public and would exempt breastfeeding from public nuisance, indecent exposure and obscenity laws.
Unfortunately, it looks like Senator Williams' bill could get hung up in the Judiciary Committee again (she introduced it last year and the committee members held it up, claiming that there was no need for such legislation.) There's a great post over at Mothering that features the names and contact info of all the members of that committee. It looks like it should get scheduled for a vote, but it's not a "for certain" yet, so PA moms need to get their emails sent.
For more information, check out the PA Breastfeeding Coalition or Birth Without Boundaries and the thread on this topic over at Mothering.com.
(Thanks to Black Belt Mama for passing me the word on this one.)
Labels: Lactivism, Nursing in Public
Just a correction - Pa. House member Babette Josephs has not yet reintroduced her parallel to Williams' SB34. Her office says she is still looking for co-sponsors. Like Williams' three bills (she has also reintroduced SB35 and SB36 concerning workplace pumping and tax incentives for workplace pumping rooms), Josephs' NIP bill introduced in the 2005 session died in committee.
Jake Marcus
Birth Without Boundaries International
Thanks for the update Jake, though I wish it was with happier news. :(
The bill was passed and signed by the governor. don't know if you have heard that yet.
Leave your response