In a strange twist of events, the West Virginia breastfeeding legislation passed by the state Senate and House was vetoed by Governor Joe Manchin yesterday. The legislation would have exempted breastfeeding from the state’s indecent exposure law. Governor Manchin vetoed the bill due to a conflict with other legislation affecting the indecent exposure law. The Governor encouraged the legislature to resolve the conflict and pass another version of the breastfeeding measure later in this session.
Granted I am not aware of the exact nature of the conflict, but this strikes me as a colossal waste of time. Measure after measure …read more

In West Virginia a bill which would exempt breastfeeding from the state’s public indecency laws easily passed in the Senate today. According to the Charleston Gazette, several members of the House of Delegates would like to see the protection strengthened with passage of one of the stronger proposed measures I discussed earlier. Physician and state Senator Dan Foster believes that House Democrats will modify Senate Bill 148 to allow breastfeeding mothers to be excused from jury duty. The bill then would need to be sent back to the Senate for concurrence and Foster says, “If that’s all they do, I’m …read more

Like Arkansas, West Virginia has not enacted any state law pertaining to breastfeeding. Previous attempts to enact breastfeeding legislation died at the end of the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions before they reached a final vote.