Seattle City Council to consider breastfeeding discrimination ordinance

Mothers have complained for years that they’ve not been
able
to nurse their babies at their workplace or in stores and
restaurants.

The Seattle City Council will consider an ordinance
to
prevent discrimination against breastfeeding moms,
according to KING-
5. It
would
make it illegal to ask nursing moms to cover up or leave a
place if they want to breastfeed their babies.

Councilmember Bruce Harrell will introduce the proposal
next week.

The City Council hearing is April 4 at 2:00 p.m. at
Seattle
City Hall in City Council Chambers. Breast-friends.org is asking moms to fill
the council chambers and show the city council that it’s
an important issue.

In February, breastfeeding advocates organized a nurse-in
outside Facebook offices after accusing the social
network
site of discriminating against photos of mothers feeding
their babies.

Facebook has since said they review all photos flagged as
inappropriate by its users, and sometimes, employees may
make mistakes in the screening process.

Mothers held breastfeeding flash mobs in Dec, 2011 at
Target stores in support of Michelle Hickman, who says she
was harassed by a Target employee while nursing her son at
a store in Webster, TX in November.

The Target store did apologize to Hickman.

As part of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act signed into law two
years ago,
employers
are required to allow mothers to take unpaid breaks to
pump milk or nurse. They’re also required to provide a
place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view
of coworkers and the public.

Washington state already has several laws related to
breastfeeding: Wash. Rev. Code 9A.88.010
(2001) states that the act of breastfeeding or expressing
breast milk is not indecent exposure. Wash. Rev. Code 43.70.640
(2001) allows any employer, governmental and private, to
use the designation of “infant-friendly” on its
promotional materials if the employer follows certain
requirements. Wash. Rev. Code 49.60.30(g)
provides that it is the right of a mother to breastfeed
her child in any place of public resort, accommodations,
assemblage or amusement.