Breastfeeding & the Law - Cut Through the Hype and Know Your Rights

When a breastfeeding mother was kicked off a Delta flight last November, many women were outraged because the woman was well within her rights. Due to the explosive coverage on the story, much of which implied that breastfeeding is public is indecent, many moms are now confused about what their actual rights are by law to breastfeed when they are out in the world.

Clearly feeding your child is a human right that insures the safety of your infant's health. And of course a feeding baby is better that a hungry, screaming baby, especially in constricted spaces like airplanes. So why all the fuss?

These attitudes derive from the taboo of breastfeeding in this society, not rational thought into the matter. Ironically, we see images of breasts every day on television and in movies. And of course popular women's styles always involve the power of cleavage. This is not a breast-phobic society by any stretch of the imagination.

Breastfeeding and the law

The state laws do not reflect the moral center of gravity in the United States. Laws about breastfeeding in public differ from state to state, but overall, most breastfeeding laws are designed to protect the mother's right, not restrict it. In fact, 21 states have laws that explicitly exempt public breastfeeding from public indecency charges. This fact reveals that popular opinion about breastfeeding in public is mixed, otherwise the law would not have been needed. Here's a good resource for breastfeeding laws state by state.

Breastfeeding and Advertising

The truth is a little weirder. People are not offended by a bare breast, but actually by a bare breast that is not sexually depicted. In other words, if a breast is bared without being sexy, but instead to be used for its intended purpose to feed a child, then we've got indecent exposure on our hands!

Some might argue that media images are actually half-covered breasts, but remember that a nursing child has got the "offending" part of the breast covered too. There is simply no way to suggest that breastfeeding in public is indecent by our own standards of publicly viewed advertising.

Advertisers rely on sexual imagery to sell their products, and part of the taboo on breastfeeding has to do with the way it strips the sexuality from the Almighty Rack. The real boob is the man who buys pornography but is offended by breastfeeding - revealing the split in many men's psyches between their sexual desires and mothering realities.

But let's not cry over spilt milk, boys. When angry protesters gathered in Texas after the Delta incident last fall, they knew they would cause the biggest stir by breast-feeding in public, in mass. They call themselves "Lactivists."

Texas police tried to disband the group of breast-feeding mothers by threatening them with arrest for public exposure and indecency. The lactivists had done their homework and quickly bared a copy of the law that allows them to breastfeed in public. Similar protests took place in Oregon, Georgia and Vermont.

So, review the breastfeeding laws in your home state. At the very least, the law may stipulate that a mother is "discrete" about nursing in public. This simply means using a blanket to cover up, or feeding in an unpopulated public area. Perhaps even the call to be discrete is ridiculous, but it's always good to know the law.

The bottom line is, don't be made to feel ashamed for breastfeeding in public. It's the right thing to do, always. The only thing being exposed is our society's double standard.