Breastfeeding advocates in Arkansas scored a major victory this week as House Bill 2411 passed unanimously through the Arkansas General Assembly. Once signed into law, the legislation will modify the indecent exposure law to exempt breastfeeding. Arkansas Code Section 5-14-112 will have the following provision added to it:
(c) A woman is not in violation of this section for breastfeeding a child in a public place or any place where other individuals are present.
Even more exciting is a new provision protecting breastfeeding in public which will be codified as Arkansas Code Section 20-27-2001:
Breastfeeding in public. A woman may breastfeed a child in a public place …read more

The Arkansas Breastfeeding Coalition’s draft breastfeeding legislation found a sponsor! Representative Pam Adcock introduced House Bill 2411. Originally the bill would have provided broad protection for a woman to breastfeed in any public or other place, but the House amended the bill so it would merely exempt breastfeeding from the Arkansas indecent exposure law. The amended bill reads:
A woman is not in violation of [the indecent exposure law] for breastfeeding a child in a public place or any place where other individuals are present.
The Morning News reports that the bill has broad support from both liberal and conservative groups in …read more

A majority of U.S. states have state laws protecting breastfeeding in public or exempting it from indecency laws. Even if a state does not have a breastfeeding law on the books that does not mean that breastfeeding in public is illegal in that state. It simply means that a private business owner may have the right to ask a mother to cover up or to leave the premises.
Arkansas is one of the remaining states without any breastfeeding laws. The Arkansas Breastfeeding Coalition is hoping to change that fact. The ABC has drafted proposed legislation, which you can read here.