Go ahead, put yourself in these shoes: You're taking a 9-hour medical exam (eek!), you're away from your infant to take it, you studied for the exam with an infant (heroic!), and you aren't allowed to pump during the exam. But it's 2007, you say? But it's America, I say.
Moms Rising is hot on this one. They've got a great petition you can sign lickety split to show your support for breastfeeding and pumping across the country (and, by extension, working mothers' rights more generally). The Breastfeeding Promotion Act (H.R. 2236) is in Congress right now and our Representatives and Senators should know if you want to see it passed. Tell 'Em, Mamas. Sign the petition. Tell 'em that nursing mothers need to pump (duh). That it's time to walk the walk. 82% of American women are mothers by the time they're 44. That's a lot of Mamastituents, folks. Surely we can prevail here. We're really not asking for much. Just some common decency.
The short & sweet on the bill: It would amend the 1964
Civil Rights Act to protect breastfeeding by new mothers by providing
tax credits to employers who provide a place to breastfeed and/or
provide breast pumps. Keep tabs on this bill's progress on GovTrack. It'll give you that "I'm just a bill" feeling.
Oregon, Sweet, Oregon: We're relatively lucky here in Oregon, what with the hard-won legislation in the 2007 legislative session allowing women who work for employers with 35+ employees to take unpaid time to pump while at work. For more about this new legislation, check out the Nursing Mothers Council of Oregon - they've even got a Lactivism page, with some good ideas for promoting breastfeeding and raising consciousness. And for some unbiased facts, the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) does a great job summarizing breastfeeding laws in all 50 states (as of July, 2007).
Read on if you want the full scoop from Moms Rising.
Doctors agree that breastmilk is best for infants, but their own licensing board isn't following doctor's orders. Sophie Currier recently learned that when it comes to supporting breastfeeding, many of our leaders--whether they are in the medical establishment (as in Sophie's case), business sector, or elsewhere--still don't "walk the talk." You see, Sophie was denied breast pumping breaks during her nine hour medical licensing exam. She's not alone. Even in this day and age when the medical evidence is clear that breastfeeding is best for infants, women are regularly denied the time and location to pump. No mom should have to choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her own health. Let's send a strong message together that it's time to "walk the talk" for healthy infants and mothers.
After you sign the Statement of Support, please forward this email to friends and family so they can sign on as well! Your voice can make a difference: When a subsidiary of Delta Airlines kicked a woman off an airplane for breastfeeding, we sent them a petition with more than 20,000 MomsRising signatures, and shortly afterwards the airline apologized and instituted a new training program for their employees.
STAND WITH SOPHIE, JANEE, AND MOTHERS ACROSS THE NATION! Women like Janee McConnell could also use the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Janee worked in a grocery store that had a health consciousness she admired. She was such a committed employee that she rose to a management job quickly and was called a "rock star" by the other employees. After her third child was born, she tried to pump at work but there was no private place to go other than a dirty, windowless electrical room. When her milk supply dropped she spoke up but store management was unsympathetic. She resigned from her management position and eventually from the store all together.
Frankly, we all lose when we
don't support mothers?businesses lose excellent employees, infants lose
important nutrients, and women lose needed jobs. No mom should have to
choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her
own health.
SHARE YOUR STORY: Many of us mothers know
personally what it's like to juggle breastfeeding babies and work.
Some of us have also experienced the pain of engorgement and the risk
of mastitis when feeding or pumping doesn't occur every few hours.
Stories like this are common. You may even have experienced something
similar yourself. *Share your story on our blog at: http://www.momsrising.org/node
All too often women aren't
able to breastfeed their babies even though the American Academy of
Pediatrics tells us it's one of the most important things we can do for
a child's health. Let's send a strong message together that it's time
to "walk the talk" for healthy infants and mothers.
*Don't
forget to sign the Statement of Support to tell the National Board of
Medical Examiners (NBME) and Congress that we want breastfeeding to be
supported for all moms?and to forward this email to friends so they can
sign on too. Just click here to sign on now: http://www.democracyinaction
Best -- Anita, Nanette, Kristin, Mary, Joan, Ashley, Katie, and Donna
Breastfeeding is really important for babies as well as moms out there. It is in this way that mothers could have intimate relationship to their child.
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