is legal anywhere in the US, but is not a protected privilege in some states. What does this mean?
Which States are protected and which arent’?
I’m asking because a woman in Alabama was asked to leave a MacDonalds for NIP and I believe that is one of the states that does not have a protected privilege. So there is now going to be a nationwide nurse-in during breastfeeding week (first week in August). For more information, I posted in MPSIMS.
Better stated as it’s not illegal under federal law, i.e. there are no federal laws prohibiting it. This is not the same as saying there are federal or constitutional laws that establish or protect the right to do it.
There are some states with laws that prohibit it, or, more likely, without laws that establish or protect the right to do it. In the latter case, a business is free to set its own policy.
IANAL but as I recall the last thread on this subject (go search) in some states nursing mothers are a protected class, meaning that asking them to leave a public place is looked at under the law as discrimination.
In a non-protected class state a restrauant owner could ask a nursing mother to leave, and while it might stir up some shit, it would be legal.
In a protected class state, asking a nursing mother to leave would be the same as asking a person to leave based on race, creed, color or national orgin. In other words flat out not legal.
California is a protected class state, Arizona is not. 2 down 48 to go.
Legalities aside, I just gotta say that it icks me out to see women nursing in public. There are just some bodily functions that don’t belong in plain view. If you really MUST nurse when out, why not just go to the restroom? That just seems to me to be only good manners.
Sorry, but I can’t whip MY boob out in public, no matter what is attached to it. And actually, there is good precedent for that…just ask Janet Jackson 
From the Code of Alabama:
The second doesn’t apply really, but since it is the only non-definitional mention I could find in the code of the female breast I thought I’d include it. Note that the public lewdness statute doesn’t mention breasts at all. Unless I’m missing something there is no prohibition in Alabama of women going topless in public, whether for purposes of nursing or otherwise.
Often “public lewdness” or “indecent exposure” laws will have written into them a specific exemption for breast feeding.
Most babies’ heads are fully opaque.
Sorry, strongly disagree. A nursing mother is one of the most beautiful sights there is. I cannot understand anyone equating it with other “bodily functions” that occur in “restrooms”.
It icks you out to see mothers feeding their babies? Good grief.
You know what really icks me out? Ugly people at restaurants. I don’t see why they just can’t eat their food in the restroom.
I’ll stop right there since this is GQ.
What icks you out about this? I have been around a LOT of nursing mothers for the last 7 years. I have never once caught a view of a nipple. Most of the time I don’t even notice. Do the nursing mothers around you often take out their breast and shake it around a little before and after feeding? Do you think that the restroom is a nice sanitary place to eat for infants?
I was just having this discussion with friends. Right to nurse in public is protected in Iowa, and a small town restaurant recently went afoul of the law. But oddly enough, while they asked a nursing mother to leave, they occasionally have wet T-shirt contests.
http://www.press-citizen.com/news/071404restaurant.htm
My sources say the restaurant owners are known locally as “nut jobs”.
Oh, and here’s an answer to the OP. State by state rundown of current laws regarding breastfeeding. Looks like the right to breastfeed in public is expressly protected in just over half the states.
Because you don’t eat in a filthy restroom and neither do I, so my children don’t need to either.
Now, to the question, according the La Leche the following states have explicitly codified that breastfeeding is not public indecency and/or women are free to nurse their children in any public place where the women have a right to be: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri (though weakly), Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont (partially), Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin & Wyoming.
In those states, a woman cannot face any criminal or civil penalty for breastfeeding in public. However, in some of those states (the linked file is specific) there is no explicit right to breastfeed in all places, so if the manager of the McDonald’s or the shopping mall decides to be discriminatory, you can be asked to leave.
In the states where there is no protection, women can still face indency charges (or other criminal penalties) for breastfeeding in public. This hasn’t happened in years, but because there is no law stating an explicit right or exemption, it is still possible.
It’s what they’re there for.
And frankly watching lots of adults eat is a lot more unsettling.
You know, I’ve never quite understood that argument. I mean, it’s not like the kid is licking his milk off the floor. The milk is contained within a breast, and the breast is presumably clean, regardless of it’s location, right? I don’t quite get how a clean boob in a restroom is less sanitary than a clean boob in the dining room. Is there something I’m missing here?
Of course, my rule of thumb is that if the restroom is too nasty for me to drink a capped soda while standing by the sink waiting for someone, there’s no way I’m eating anything made in that kitchen. Places that are lax about some of the sanitation are almost always lax about all the sanitation.
My objections to sending the nursing mother off to the toilets include:
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It is unnecessary; breast feeding isn’t anything new; deal with it.
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It implies that the process is somehow ‘dirty’ (at least by association with normal toilet functions)
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The toilet facilities are unlikely to be comfortable or well suited to the function
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The mother may also be in sole charge of other children - would she leave them at the table or make them eat their fries in the toilet, or is that just ‘her problem’?
Feeding a child doesn’t belong in plain view? What? Would you eat in the bathroom? Besides, I have to be sitting when I’m nursing. Where would I sit in a public restroom? On the toilet? I think that’s a little more ick than the very slight possibility that someone (God forbid) should see my nipple while I’m nourishing my child. Quite frankly, you see less of my boob while I’m nursing than you would see going to the beach! I think you should take your burger and fries and go sit on the toilet and eat them! I would go further, but this is GQ, not the Pit.
To all the other posters, thank you for the info and I shoulda thought to check on the LLL site for the states! :smack:
I’ve nursed in public.
I had long hair at the time, so I would use my hair as a screen while I got my blouse unbuttoned and opened the nursing bra.
Pop the baby on, drape a blanket over the baby’s head, and away you go.
It’s not like I was standing on the table, doing a slow strip tease while crying out, “I’m going to nurse my child now!”
As long as you don’t draw attention to yourself, no one will notice.
Unlike those of Alabama state legislators.