Breastfeeding Protected by New Wisconsin County Ordinance

Finally a breastfeeding law with some bite! In Wisconsin, Dane County board members just enacted Dane County Municipal Ordinance 23.37 which states:

[N]o person shall interfere with a mother breast-feeding her child or expressing breast milk within any public accommodation where the mother would otherwise be authorized to be….”

The state law in Wisconsin already protects breastfeeding in public by exempting breastfeeding from the criminal statutes, but this ordinance provides some consequences for anyone who interferes with a mother exercising her right to breastfeed or pump. Anyone who is arrested for harassing a breastfeeding mother may face a fine of $10 to $100. People who do not pay the fine may be sentenced up to 30 days in jail (as is the law for non-payment of any other type of fine).

One news article mentions that local police officers are concerned about enforceability of the new law. Verbal harassment of nursing mothers might fall under protections for free speech, making the law unenforceable in that case. Novak, Bill. “Breast-feeding Protected by New Ordinance.” The Capital Times. Jan. 5, 2007. Certainly the law is going to make people think twice about asking a mother to leave a restaurant or a movie theater (as happened to a woman in Texas).

The law applies to any place under county jurisdiction, which includes “the airport, the zoo or any stores or restaurants in unincorporated areas” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. DeFour, Matthew. “Law to Protect Nursing Women.” Wisconsin State Journal. Jan. 4, 2007.

I think this is wonderful news and I commend Supervisor Carousel Bayrd (Madison), a nursing mother herself, for sponsoring the ordinance. Watch for news of a similar ordinance to be passed by the Madison City Council.