The entire text of the enacted bill reads:

23-13.5-1. Breastfeeding in public places. – A woman may feed her child by bottle or breast in any place open to the public.

23-13.5-2. Remedies. – In any civil action alleging a violation of this chapter, the court may:

(1) Afford injunctive relief against any person, entity or public accommodation that commits or proposes to commit a violation of this chapter; and

(2) Award compensatory damages and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on March 1, 2009.

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The entire text of the enacted bill reads:

23-13.5-1. Breastfeeding in public places. – A woman may feed her child by bottle or breast in any place open to the public.

23-13.5-2. Remedies. – In any civil action alleging a violation of this chapter, the court may:

(1) Afford injunctive relief against any person, entity or public accommodation that commits or proposes to commit a violation of this chapter; and

(2) Award compensatory damages and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on March 1, 2009.

It’s wonderful to see a law that provides a private cause of action for denial of the right to breastfeed in public. Congratulations and thanks to State Senators Perry, Moura, Sosnowski, Gallo, and Pichardo, who co-sponsored the bill in the Rhode Island Senate.

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Chapter 14. Employee Breaks
Sec. 1. As used in this chapter, “employer” means a person or entity that employs twenty-five (25) or more employees.
Sec. 2. (a) To the extent reasonably possible, an employer shall provide a private location, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express the employee’s breast milk in privacy during any period away from the employee’s assigned duties.
(b) To the extent reasonably possible, an employer shall:
(1) provide a refrigerator or other cold storage space for keeping milk that has been expressed; or
(2) allow the employee to provide the employee’s own portable cold storage device for keeping milk that has been expressed until the end of the employee’s work day.
(c) Except in cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith, an employer is not liable for any harm caused by or arising from either of the following that occur on the employer’s premises:
(1) The expressing of an employee’s breast milk.
(2) The storage of expressed milk.

Inside INdiana Business quotes Senator Simpson as saying:

This legislation benefits not only mothers and their children. It also benefits employers because women with infants are the fastest growing section of the labor force and breastfeeding typically causes lower healthcare costs for the mother and child. I’m pleased to see the governor agreed and signed it into law.

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I was so upset because I was all alone and I felt everybody was looking at me. When my husband came back I told him ‘we have to go.’ … He thought I was kidding and I started crying hysterically.

After doing a little research on-line, Cummings decided to file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against the American-based Flying J truck stop chain.

‘It really affected my self-esteem,’ she said. ‘I’m an educated woman and (the manager) made me feel so vulnerable and powerless. I’m my daughter’s food source and I felt like I couldn’t protect her.’

For Cummings, the complaint wasn’t about seeking money, but rather about her baby’s right to eat. In mediation, she asked for and received CDN $100 (enough to pay for gas to drive back to the restaurant and pay for a replacement meal for the one her family never got to eat), a letter of apology, and promises to put up a poster explaining the rights of nursing mothers and to have the staff receive sensitivity training on breastfeeding in public by early 2008.

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1. Start at the National Conference of State Legislatures page on breastfeeding laws. Scroll down to your particular state, in this case, California. Note that not all states have laws about breastfeeding and the entry for such states will be blank. As I said though, California is a pretty breastfeeding-friendly state and the so the NCSL site lists several laws. I’ve put the breastfeeding in public law in bold:

Cal. Civil Code § 210.5 (2000) allows the mother of a breastfed child to postpone jury duty for one year and specifically eliminates the need for the mother to appear in court to request the postponement. The law also provides that the one-year period may be extended upon written request of the mother. [Chap. 266 (AB 1814)]

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 1647 (1999) declares that the procurement, processing, distribution or use of human milk for the purpose of human consumption is considered to be a rendition of service rather than a sale of human milk. [Chap. 87 (AB 532)]

Cal. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 155 (1998) encourages the state and employers to support and encourage the practice of breastfeeding, by striving to accommodate the needs of employees, and by ensuring that employees are provided with adequate facilities for breastfeeding and expressing milk for their children. The resolution memorializes the governor to declare by executive order that all state employees be provided with adequate facilities for breast feeding and expressing milk.

Cal. Civil Code § 43.3 (1997) allows a mother to breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present. (AB 157)

Cal. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 95 (1996) proclaims the week of August 1 through 7, 1996, as Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

Cal. Health and Safety Code § 123360, 123365 (1995) requires the Department of Health Services to include in its public service campaign the promotion of mother who breastfeed their infants. The law requires hospitals to make available a breastfeeding consultant or alternatively, provide information to the mother on where to receive breastfeeding information. (AB 973, AB 977)

Cal. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 41 (1995) proclaims August 1 through 7, 1995, Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

Cal. Lab. Code § 1030, 1031, 1032, 1033 (2001) Employers need to allow a break and a provide a room for a mother who desires to milk in private.

2. Use a search engine to find the state legislature page where you can look up the full text of the law. I “Googled” the term “California state legislature” and readily found the California State Legislature page.

3. Generally the state legislature page will contain a link to a site to look up the text of particular laws. In this case, I want to look up California Civil Code § 43.3, so I click on the link for “Laws and Constitution” then “Search California Code” which takes me to the California Law page. I click on “Civil Code” and type in “43.3″ in the keyword search field. The first item found includes section 43.3, which states in full:

43.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a mother may breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the
private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present.

4. Print out a copy of the law.

5. If you wish, check to see whether there are any breastfeeding-related bills pending in the legislature. That involves going back to the state legislature page, and in my case, clicking on “Bill Information” followed by “Bill Search.” Using the keyword search feature (I could use a particular bill number if I already knew one), I search for variations of “breastfeeding,” “breast feeding,” and “breast,” just to make sure I’ve covered all the bases. Several items pop up but the most interesting is Senate Bill 22, passed by the legislature, and approved by the governor on October 11, 2007. It requires “the State Department of Public Health to recommend specified training that is intended to improve breast-feeding rates among mothers and infants for general acute care hospitals and special hospitals that provide maternity care, and that have exclusive patient breast-feeding rates in the lowest 25%.” Cool.

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Now is an exciting time for breastfeeding advocacy! The recent outpouring of activism and support for women and children who have been discriminated against has shown that people are passionate about defending the rights of breastfeeding mothers and children. Channeling that passion into positive, professional, and productive action is the purpose of a new national grassroots organization called FirstRight. FirstRight exists to ensure freedom from discrimination for breastfeeding mothers and their children.

Sounds like a good idea to me, as long as the group works collaboratively — as it pledges to do — with state breastfeeding coalitions and other breastfeeding advocacy groups. La Leche League handles breastfeeding education and support and generally stays out of lactation activism (”lactivism”), but there are other national groups out there advocating for breastfeeding. Promotion of Mother’s Milk Inc. (ProMom) dedicates itself to increasing public awareness and public acceptance of breastfeeding. The National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy is located just outside Washington, D.C. and works to be breastfeeding’s primary lobbying arm, responsible for monitoring policy for its impact on the breastfeeding family. The Breastfeeding Advocacy Network grew to become a national organization after it originally formed as a local group to support women discriminated against due to breastfeeding.

It seems that FirstRight could fill a need for a cohesive, proactive entity to find and support mothers who have faced discrimination, to educate the public, and to work on legislative change. Some people will probably quibble over whether or not there’s a “right” to breastfeed, and whether it’s a mother’s right to breastfeed or a child’s right to eat (or both), but that’s just the reason why it could help to have an organization like FirstRight in place — to bring focus, clarity, and authority to the various lactivist causes.

If you are interested in becoming part of FirstRight, check out FirstRight.org, or go directly to join one of the Yahoo groups for the three FirstRight committees: the Breastfeeding Discrimination Task Force, the Breastfeeding Rights Education Committee, and the Breastfeeding Legislative Action Committee.

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What do you think? Is it a good idea for a nursing mother to carry a copy of the state law with her? Does that escalate a confrontation, setting back the cause of lactation activism, or does it help educate misinformed personnel? Voice your opinion in the poll and feel free to leave a comment as well.

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Employer support has risen; about 26% of employers offer such programs as a space to pump or access to a lactation coach, up from 19% in 2005, says a 2007 survey of 590 companies by the Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Va. Support is mounting in state capitols; four states in the past two years have passed laws encouraging or mandating employer support for lactating mothers, says the National Conference of State Legislatures, bringing the total to about 15 states.

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In order to put the petitioner on equal footing as the male and non-lactating female examinees, she must be provided with sufficient time to pump breast milk and to address the same physiological and other functions to which those examinees are able to attend

A Texas mother was not allowed to breastfeed her son in the Disney Store in the Round Rock outlet mall. Watch the video coverage to see how well the mother handles the interview and how she demonstrates nursing her son! (Thanks Melissa for the tip on this one!) For more on Texas law on breastfeeding in public, see Texas Law Loophole Explained.

The Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge set for this coming Saturday is now up to 229 sites across Canada and the United States, including sites in 24 different U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

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