By all accounts, it was a rollicking good moment in the sun for mothers, engaging them directly in the policy efforts that affect their daily lives. And it got widespread publicity among NGOs and grassroots advocates in the maternal-child health and breastfeeding realms. So maybe this will be the session the BPA breaks through?
The proposed legislation would protect the rights of nursing mothers who return to the workplace after having a baby, amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a new clause. The bill would also provide tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, allow families to deduct breastfeeding pumps and equipment from their taxes, and provide a performance standard for breast pumps. (Can you believe how long in coming this is?)
Currently, 38 states and Puerto Rico have laws on their books protecting the rights of women to breastfeed. But the federal initiative would provide important national protections, regardless of where a mother lives and works. For more on the Breastfeeding Promotion Act from La Leche League International, click here.
Kudos to Congresswoman Maloney and Congressman Hays for their support of this legislation! Rep. Maloney, who has a strong track record of looking out for American women, children, and families, first passed breastfeeding legislation in the 106th Congress, when her right-to-breastfeed amendment passed for the FY 2000 budget. It protected a woman's right to breastfeed on federal property where the woman and her child are otherwise authorized to be. Then in the 105th Congress, Rep. Maloney included a reauthorization bill allowing state agencies to use WIC program funds to share educational materials on breast pumps and to purchase breast pumps for WIC recipients.
Be sure to let the other original co-sponsors of Maloney's Breastfeeding Promotion Act know you appreciate their efforts: Keith Ellison (D-MN); Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY); John Olver (D-MA); Bobby Rush (D-IL); Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH); Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).
The Act is now awaiting committee considerations, and has been referred to House Education and Labor. To let your representatives in Congress know you want them to push the Act forward - to protect women's rights, children's health, and family wellbeing - click here and look them up.
