Lactation legislation included in the Healthcare Reform Bill

Before I begin my post, let me preface it with this disclaimer:


I care not if you breastfeed or chose formula for your child. Your child, your boobs, your decision. I made mine, and you are entitled to yours.

I care not your political beliefs, and I don't want to hear them. This is not a blog about politics. I am entitled to my own political beliefs (and also to keep them private if I so wish). You are entitled the same consideration. So is everyone else reading this.


I do not care if you like our Presidents, Congressmen, or Senators. I don't like some of them either. They were elected. Now deal with it until the next election. If you don't like a bill they are considering, write them. If you are against one political party and in favor of another, volunteer during the next campaign season.



I am posting this simply to enlighten lactating mothers of their rights, as included in the recently passed "Healthcare Reform Bill". I don't care if you supported passage of this bill or not. I don't care if you are a Tea-partyer or not. I don't care about your political, ethical, or moral beliefs in the least. We are all entitled to our own. I DO, however, care about MY rights, and as an extension, YOUR rights.


Any inappropriate comments left here, or elsewhere on my blog, will be removed. If you've linked to this post, please feel free to leave me a note saying so. Any comment along the lines of "Stupid Senate, Stupid Congress, Stupid Healthcare Reform," etc. will be deleted. So will comments arguing breast vs. bottle, Republican vs. Democrat, etc.



I just found out about this tiny little feature of the recently passed, much-debated Healthcare Reform Bill recently passed. I don't care whether you were for or against this piece of legislation. I couldn't care less if you like it or not. I just wanna get these fact out there so that those who need them have them. If this interests you or someone you know, please link to this. I didn't know about it. I'm sure there are other women out there who are lactating, working mothers who really could use this information.

The below passage comes from HR 3590 (AKA the Healthcare Reform Bill passed by the U.S. Senate on December 24, 2009 and the U.S. House of Representatives on March 21, 2010. President Obama signed this act into law on March 23, 2010. This is now Federal Public Law 111-148.) Section 4207. I have copied and pasted it from here.



SEC. 4207. REASONABLE BREAK TIME FOR NURSING MOTHERS. Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

(29 U.S.C. 207) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(r)(1) An employer shall provide— ‘‘(A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk; and ‘‘(B) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. ‘‘(2) An employer shall not be required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time under paragraph (1) for any work time spent for such purpose. ‘‘(3) An employer that employs less than 50 employees shall not be subject to the requirements of this subsection, if such requirements would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.
‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall preempt a State law that provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided for under this subsection.’’.



This is great news for lactating women. You are now guaranteed under Federal law (as long as your employer has at least 50 employees) unpaid breaks and a private room for expressing breastmilk. You no longer have to pump in a dirty bathroom. Your lactation room must now be free from view AND intrusion from coworkers and the public. This means you are entitled to a door that locks, to maintain your privacy and dignity while expressing breastmilk.

This is a step up in recognizing the importance of breastfeeding our children. This is a step up in recognizing a mother's right to breastfeed even after returning to work. This is Federal Law recognizing our children's right to be comforted by breastmilk even after the first two or six or eight weeks of life. This is Federal Law recognizing that I chose to breastfeed my son until he is ready to wean, and I have the right to expect to not lose my milk supply after I return to work.

Please pass this news on. Feel free to pass on the link to this blog. Let's get the word out that a new Federal law is giving this to those mothers who choose to breastfeed their children.

Also, please know that I am posting this exact same entry on my other blog, also.

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Links to legislation on breastfeeding, families, women's issues, and more - Rep. Carolyn Maloney

There is currently legislation in committee before the House of Representatives to help some working, nursing mothers out. It's called the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Please, take the time to read this piece of legislation. Then, email your Congressmen and women, as well as those on the committee currently reviewing this legislation. Let them know what you think.

To find out more information on this bill, like who is on the committee reviewing it, and where it is in the process, click here.

Interestingly enough, this bill is sponsored by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, from Manhattan/Queens, New York. She "is the first woman to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District; the first woman to represent New York City’s 7th Councilmanic district (where she was the first woman to give birth while in office); and is currently the first woman to Chair the Joint Economic Committee, a House and Senate panel that examines and addresses the nation’s most pressing economic issues." (source: Maloney's bio - here.) (Note this disclaimer: I live in northern Alabama. Rep. Maloney does not represent my congressional district. I am not related to her, nor do I know her. As a matter of fact, I do not believe I am related to or know anyone affiliated with her, her campaigns, etc. I am not trying to toot her horn, or get her re-elected, or anything else. Just bringing you good people information on legislation that could affect your families.)

If you click through her website, there is a list of legislation I believe she has been involved with, or possible even sponsored/co-sponsored. You can get to the list by clicking here. Just glancing down her list, I see several entries that I would guess are very family, woman, and child friendly. (I haven't read all these, although I do plan to. I can't guarantee the contents of these items. I'm just guessing from their titles that they are geared toward helping out families. I'll update later, after I have read them.) There's entries to expand FMLA, and one for providing Federal employees with paid parental leave (which has a counterpart in the Senate), and several more.

I'll be reading up on all these in the next few weeks, and letting everyone I can in both legislative houses know what I think about each.Please join me. Let your voice be heard. We can make a difference for our families.

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CNN: Mom says pumping at work caused her to lose her job

This is just shameful. And to think that the Ohio State Supreme Court didn't see this as discrimination? When other employees were allowed to take more breaks to smoke than she was to pump? This is outrageous. Sadly, it occurs far more often than I would hope.

Mom says pumping at work cost her a job

I have many thoughts about this. First, kudos to Campbell Brown (a nursing mother) and CNN for covering this story. Kudos to Campbell Brown and all other nursing women out there who are publicly working to help knock down the barriers so many nursing mothers face every day.

Now, for me to get on my soapbox for a while.

Here's an idea. Since the president wants so badly to enact healthcare reform (I am not commenting one way or the other, nor trying to start this debate, just saying, he's set deadlines for his ideal timeline and everything because he wants it to happen so badly), why don't we start at the true beginning: enact federal laws protecting lactating mothers from any form of discrimination. How about laws protecting my right to express my breastmilk at work for my child? How about better maternity leave? Paternity leave, even. Family sick leave.

I'm talking about laws separate from those currently proposed regarding healthcare reform or any other bill currently being proposed or considered. We need to stand up and have our voices be heard. We need a bill, today, that will make it to be signed into law that says, "You know what? Our children are our top priority. They are our future, and we need them to be healthy. Women (and men) deserve the right to longer time off from work.Women deserve more paid time off. Better short-term disability plans. The right to pump at work if they so desire. The right to breastfeed their children anywhere. The right to no longer hide in their cars, or bathroom talls, or dressing rooms just because their child is hungry."

How about requiring companies to provide facilities other than bathrooms for lactating mothers to pump in? I'm not talking about high-class, fancy-pants facilities. Just a private room, with a few comfortable chairs or couch, a couple of tables neat the chairs or couches to set up pumping equipment, a lockable door, a small sink, refrigerator, good lighting, maybe a telephone for people who have a job like mine and must be reachable no matter what they're doing. Maybe a couple of sets of lockers or filing cabinets or somethign that lock individually of each other, for lactating mothers to store items like nursing pads, extra milk storage bags, extra pump bottles, bottle brushes for cleaning their pumping equipment, etc.

What is so wrong with this country that women have to beg for these things? Why should I have to beg for time to express breastmilk in a tiny, dirty bathroom just so I can give my baby the very best nutrition I can? I guarantee all the bosses who give their workers hard times over pumping at work, and then force them to use bathrooms, wouldn't dare eat food prepared for them in a filthy, nasty bathroom. Why should our children?

What gives a grown man (or woman) the right to tell me that I have to prepare my child's food (or feed my child) in a filthy restroom, when they wouldn't even consider eating their meals in a restroom or dressing room. What right does anyone have to tell me that I must take my child to my car, in the parking lot, through the heat, cold, wind, rain, and sun to feed him?

I'm not saying we should all run out and expose our bare breasts to society. I do believe in having a little decency and respect for others. You might not want your 12-year-old son looking at my breasts while I feed my son. But we have to stop making mothers feel ashamed and afraid in public, or at work, for doing what they feel is right for their children.

If you feel this way, please contact your state representatives, Congressmen, and Senators. Email the President. Do something to help educate people on these issues. I don't care if you're a nursing mother, a former nursing mother, a grandmother, a father, a grandfather, a CEO, a stay at home mom, a pediatrician, an OB-GYN, a midwife, a CRNW, an aunt, a best friend.... A child even. If your life has been touched by a lactating woman, her child, or if you or a loved one hope to be a breastfeeding mother someday, please let our lawmakers know how you feel. It's the only way to get our voices heard. There is currently legislation in committee before the Senate to help some working, nursing mothers out. It's called the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Please, take the time to read this piece of legislation. Then, email your Senators, as well as those on the committee currently reviewing this legislation. Let them know what you think.

To find out more information on this bill, like who is on the committee reviewing it, and where it is in the process, click here.

If you've stayed this long, then thank you. I know this got really long, really quick. I'll get off my soapbox now.

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