Jury Duty

Kellymom has a nice collection of resources regarding jury duty for breastfeeding moms.

Traveling mothers still "face hurdles"

Traveling mothers still face hurdles in pumping breastmilk, reports the New York Times' business section, despite updated TSA rules regarding the carrying of expressed milk on airplanes. There is encouraging news, though:

Ernst & Young, the New York City financial services company, provides free travel kits so that women on business trips can ship milk home to their babies. And the Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm based in Boston, helps women bring their babies on business trips by covering travel expenses for the infant and a baby sitter.

Ms. [Suzanne] Riss [editor-in-chief of Working Mother magazine] called such programs “very cutting edge” and noted that they “go a long way” toward creating loyal employees. “But they’re still the exception, not the rule,” she added.

Podcast: Jake Marcus on nursing in public and the law

The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog has posted a podcast interview with attorney Jake Marcus on the subject of nursing in public and the law:

Jake discusses the different types of breastfeeding laws, what to do if you're harassed for nursing in public, and where to get information on the law in your state.

Also, don't miss her article on Lactation and the Law at Mothering.com.

Breastfeeding in Moscow

Muscovites, amid a baby boom and changing attitudes towards children, wrestle with public breastfeeding:

Sheer lack of an alternative may ultimately have an effect on general attitudes and official handling of the issue of breast-feeding in public.

Britain, for example, introduced anti-discrimination legislation mandating that mothers be allowed to breast-feed babies wherever they like. Under the law, restaurants, stores and other public establishments preventing women from breast-feeding would face fines of up to ?2,500, or $5,000.

An incident last year in London, in which an exhibit attendant at the National Gallery told a woman to either stop feeding her 11-month-old daughter or to take her to the museum's mother-and-baby room, focused attention on the issue in Britain.

Similar incidents in the United States at shopping malls, restaurants and other public places over the last two decades have prompted many states to prohibit bans on public breast-feeding.

There are also countries, including Italy, Israel and many in Africa where legislation has never become an issue because there is no cultural bias against the practice.

It would appear to be an issue in Moscow.

A highly random and even more unscientific survey of employee attitudes at Independent Media, which publishes The Moscow Times, provided insight into how Muscovites feel about the issue. Of the respondents, who were divided almost evenly between men and women, about 80 percent said they did not think that breast-feeding should be done in public unless in an emergency, and then only discreetly.

This is the same traditional Russian approach that led to the creation of special "mother and child" rooms in Soviet times that are still found in airports, railway stations and some metro stations.

Outside of the transport milieu, however, things are tougher.

Finding herself in the city center with a screaming baby and no plans to travel by plane or train, Charlotte Baring said she had no other option than to feed her infant son on the nearest park bench.

"I was terrified I would get shouted at by a babushka for subjecting my baby to the germs of a public place," said Baring, an interior designer from Britain. "Nobody actually said anything to me, but I definitely got a few stares and funny looks."

Having been on the receiving end of a scolding by a babushka once or twice in my life, I should say that "terrified" is an apt word to describe the feeling.

Breastfeeding and FLDS Mothers

I'm taking a bit of a blogging break this week while we have houseguests, but I wanted to pop in and mention this new blog, FLDS Babies Have Right To Breastmilk:

I am saddened to say that many Texan breastfeeding mothers may be separated from their nursing infants immediately, if not already... While we may not agree or understand the circumstances, I think we need to fight for the right of the children to have the best care and nutrition, which includes breastmilk.

The blog also contains information on breastfeeding and family law/custody issues.

Moms in the Military and in Prison

Interesting blog posts this week; Angela White updates us on U.S. Military Rules for Breastfeeding Mothers at Breastfeeding 123. And Rachel Roth of RH Reality Check asks, "What Do Prisons Have to Do with Reproductive Rights?":

People in prison are the only group in the United States with a constitutional right to medical care. ... In practice, however, securing needed medical care can be daunting, as numerous lawsuits and investigations attest. Women encounter multiple barriers to care - from co-payments they can ill afford to having to convince a guard that they need to see a doctor. Gynecological and obstetric care is often woefully inadequate. In a nationally representative government study, 20 percent of pregnant women in prison reported getting no prenatal care, and 50 percent of pregnant women in jails went without care.

US immigration agency sets new policy after arrest of breast-feeding mother

Wow. I am just speechless. No so much about the arrest, but that the situation was resolved so quickly, with a policy being put into place:

U.S. immigration officials said they have enacted a new policy to show greater consideration for breast-feeding mothers, days after authorities arrested a Honduran woman in Ohio on an immigration violation and separated her from her crying baby.

Sayda Umanzor, 27, admitted to being in the United States illegally when sheriff's deputies and federal agents knocked on the door of a house in Conneaut, Ohio, on Oct. 26.

Umanzor was breast-feeding her 9-month-old daughter, Brittany, at the time, and the baby cried as her parents were led away.

"It was like a piece of me was torn away," Umanzor said Thursday, speaking through an interpreter.

The baby cried incessantly over the next several days as she went without breast milk and Umanzor suffered soreness from engorged breasts.

Greg Palmore, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said the agency approved Wednesday a new policy to address the needs of breast-feeding mothers.

"It basically ensures that you take humanitarian issues involving nursing moms into consideration," he said Friday. "It also ensures we make contact with state social service agencies to address caregiver issues."

In Umanzor's case, the first jail where she was held did not know it had a nursing mother until Monday, when Lucia Stone, a Spanish-speaking representative of the La Leche League of Ohio, alerted them, said jail commander William Schultz.

Schultz said jail officials then accepted a breast pump and tried to work with local Spanish-speaking mothers to get milk to the baby, but the two sides failed to connect, and the milk had to be thrown out.

Umanzor was transferred to a county jail in Tiffin, Ohio, before immigration lawyer David Leopold secured her release Tuesday night. Leopold argued it was inhumane to hold a nursing mother and unnecessary to jail someone who the ICE knew how to find.

Umanzor was permitted to rejoin her children and was fitted with an ankle bracelet that tracks her whereabouts. She is expected to be deported soon.

Umanzor's husband, Marcus Antonio Bejarano, also an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was taken into custody. A 5-year-old son, David, also has been ordered deported. The couple's 9-month-old baby and a 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra, are U.S. citizens.

Also, see my previous post on the UK addressing this issue last year.

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood?

Applebee's restaurants are the target of a nationwide protest to take place this Saturday, September 8, 2007, at 12:00 noon (local time), in a response to an incident that took place last June in Kentucky. While discreetly feeding her baby at an Applebee's restaurant, Brooke Ryan was asked to either leave or cover her baby's head with a blanket, in violation of 2006 Ky. Acts, Chap. 80 , which reads in part:

No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be.

You can read all the details at Birth Without Boundaries, which is sponsoring the national event. However, I will summarize by saying that Lactivists do not call for nation-wide protests unless the response from corporate representatives has been less than adequate:

Shortly following the incident, Ms. Ryan retained the services of a lawyer who contacted Thomas and King, the company that owns and operates the Lexington Applebee's location. Nearly 2 months later, the company responded with a letter stating "we are considering keeping blankets in the restaurants for use by breastfeeding mothers that may not have them readily available,"...

Here's a list of bloggers covering the event (so far):

Our Applebee's is not nursing friendly... (Azuroo)
Breastfeeding Advocates Sending Nationwide Message to Applebee's (Breastfeeding 123)
Applebees Hates Babies, Try Hooters Instead (Breeders are Eaters Too!)
Applebee's accuses nursing mother of having "an agenda" (Human Lactation Information)
Applebee’s Nurse-In, Nurse-Out (The International Breastfeeding Symbol)
Breastfeeding nurse-out Saturday (Journal of a North American Celtic Bobtail)
August is World Breast-feeding Awareness Month (Kentucky Women)
Applebee's Ticks off Nursing Moms or "I Won't Be Eating Good at THAT Neighboorhood" (The Lactivist)
Applebee's Nurse In (Mama Knows Breast)
Eating not-so-good in the neighborhood (The Mother Tounge)
Nationwide nurse-ins at Applebee's (Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog)
Eatin’ Good In The Neighborhood? (My Little Tribe)
Applebee's Nurse-in (Nursing Your Kids)
Wear Your Burka if You Want to Nurse at Applebees (The Twinkies)
Eatin’ Stupid in the Neighborhood (Women's Health News)

If I missed anything good, leave me a comment.

This Week's Legal News

Breasts, placentas, midwives, and the TSA -

Woman wins settlement in breastfeeding case:

Watch-maker and clothier Fossil Inc. agreed to pay $3,600 to a woman who was barred from breast-feeding her infant while visiting a company showroom, the New York Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday.

Lass King, 37, a buyer for a Maine clothing store and a mother of two, said she received a letter of apology and the payment from Fossil after threatening the company with a lawsuit.

In its letter to King, Fossil also said it had issued a policy affirming that breast-feeding was permitted in all Fossil stores and showrooms, said Galen Sherwin, director of the NYCLU's Reproductive Rights Project.

Representatives of Fossil could not immediately confirm details of the settlement.

New York law states that women are permitted to breast-feed "in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be."

Hospital told to return placenta to mom:

A woman has won a court fight to keep the placenta after her daughter's birth. She had planned to grind it up and ingest it as a way to fight postpartum depression, but now plans to bury it.

Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday, ordering Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in southern Nevada to return the placenta to Anne Swanson. Hospital officials said they will comply.

What is interesting was that the plaintiff was expecting a ruling on a temporary injunction, not a ruling on the merits (see Swanson vs. Sunrise Hospital for the blow-by-blow). Doesn't sound as if the hospital will fight this decision, but they are not changing their policy either:

Amy Stevens, system vice president for Sunrise Health, which operates Sunrise Hospital, described the ruling as specific to Swanson. She said the hospital must comply with strict regulations in handling human biohazardous waste.

There is no Nevada law prohibiting hospitals from returning placentas to mothers. But several Las Vegas area hospitals told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the organ is usually destroyed unless a physician designates it for medical tests or a patient seeks it for specific religious or cultural reasons.

USA Today ran a piece this week on placentophagia (Ingesting the placenta: Is it healthy for new moms?) which mentions the Swanson case.

After numerous complaints, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has changed its policy regarding breastmilk:

TSA is also modifying the rules associated with carrying breast milk through security checkpoints. Mothers flying with, and now without, their child will be permitted to bring breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is declared for inspection at the security checkpoint.

Breast milk is in the same category as liquid medications. Now, a mother flying without her child will be able to bring breast milk through the checkpoint, provided it is declared prior to screening.

Birth Without Boundaries lawyer Jake Marcus comments:

Under the old TSA rule, pumped breastmilk had to be packaged in 3 oz containers all of which had to fit into one 12 oz ziplock bag. Birth Without Boundaries has assisted many women whose pumped milk was confiscated and dumped by TSA security officers, either because it was not packaged according to regulation or because the TSA officer did not know what the regulation was. All of our complaints to the TSA have gone unanswered, until now.

Marcus also recommends that women traveling with expressed milk carry a copy of the modified policy, just in case they encounter an employee who has not yet gotten the memo.

Judge dismisses Mendon midwife lawsuit:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a former Mendon midwife in a bid to have her license to practice in Vermont reinstated.

Roberta Devers-Scott claimed in the lawsuit that the state violated her due process rights, leading to the revocation of her midwife license. Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz, whose office oversees professional licensing of midwives in Vermont, was among the defendants named in the lawsuit.

Judge J. Garvan Murtha issued a six-page ruling in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro granting a motion filed on the defendants' behalf dismissing the lawsuit, ruling, in part, Markowitz had immunity from the lawsuit.

Michael Sussman, Devers-Scott's attorney, said Friday he planned to appeal the judge's ruling to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

And that's what is making news this week.

Breastfeeding mother given parking ticket

Breastfeeding mother given parking ticket:

Breastfeeding support groups have condemned the actions of an attendant who fined a mother for parking in a restricted area to feed her child and then took photographs for proof.

The warden employed by a national car park management company confronted Jerricah Watson, 19, after she pulled into a permit holders-only bay in the Candle Lane area of Dundee to breastfeed her 14-week-old son Jaksyn.

Ms Watson pulled into the quiet street to get away from the city-centre traffic and said the warden initially said it was okay to feed her child. She said he then took photos and put a ticket on her car.

When she approached the attendant, from Birmingham-based Central Ticketing, which is responsible for policing the parking in the area, he said it was too late to withdraw the ticket. The penalty was for £85 or £60 if paid within two weeks.

"As I'm breastfeeding and therefore my son is fed on demand, I need to stop right away," she said.

"I feel with the government both locally and nationally trying to encourage mums to breastfeed that it was unfair of the man not to take that into account or even bother to ask me to move or give me a few minutes to feed my child."

The incident has alarmed breastfeeding support groups who believe more should be done by government to allow babies to be fed naturally.

Gillian McWhirter, a Scottish breastfeeding support group adviser, said: "This is a very unfortunate situation. There is enough of a problem getting mothers to breastfeed because they are embarrassed to do it in public. But to not just give this woman a ticket but take pictures of her while she was in the car, is quite shocking.

"These kind of situations encourage ignorance over the importance of breastfeeding, which scientific evidence shows decreases the rate of infant illness.

"It is a basic right for a child to receive nutrition and every mother knows that when baby cries, baby has to be fed."

Thyll Buchanan, a registered Scottish breastfeeding network supporter, added: "Young mothers need all the help and support they can to continue to breastfeed. It is safer to pull over and feed a crying baby than to try and continue driving under stressful conditions."

Central Ticketing said it would cancel the ticket if an investigation into the mother's complaint found her story to be true. Part of the inquiry would involve examining pictures taken by the parking attendant.

"We will see if this woman's story stacks up, because the warden would have taken photographs and she would have been in the vehicle," said the spokesman.

"We issue thousands of parking charges a week. Fifty per cent of people send in an appeal. You have to bear in mind of every 10 letters we receive seven or eight of these members of the public are telling lies. We are not saying this woman is. This will be investigated."

Figures released last month show that fewer Scottish mothers are opting to breastfeed despite numerous government campaigns promoting the health benefits.

Last year, only 44.2% of mothers were breastfeeding at the time of a health worker's first visit when the baby is about 10 days old while 36.6% were doing so after six to eight weeks. That compares with 45.1% and 37.2% respectively in 2005.

This incident occurred in Scotland, where anyone who interferes with breastfeeding can be fined up to £2,500 (nearly $5,000). Since Scotland is the first (known) jurisdiction to impose a fine for interfering with breastfeeding, the language of the law (.pdf) could be a model for other jurisdictions to follow:

1 Offence of preventing or stopping a child 5 from being fed milk

(1)Subject to subsection (2), it is an offence deliberately to prevent or stop a person in charge of a child from feeding milk to that child in a public place or on licensed premises.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the child, at the material time, is not lawfully permitted to be in the public place or on the licensed premises otherwise than for the purpose of being fed milk.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
(4) In this section—
"child" means a person who has not yet attained the age of two years;
"feeding" includes—

(a) breastfeeding; and
(b) feeding from a bottle or other container;

"licensed premises" means premises licensed under—

(a) section 12 of the Theatres Act 1968 (c.54);
(b) Part II of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 (c.66);
(c) Part II of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (c.45); or
(d) section 1 of the Cinemas Act 1985 (c.13);

"milk" means breastmilk, cow’s milk or infant formula;
"public place" means any place to which, at the material time, the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission.

I'm not implying that the parking attendant violated the Scottish law, it just seemed like a good opportunity to blog about Scotland. I like the fact that the statue defines "public place". Although the definition of "public place" is probably well-defined in the case law of US states, the definition was not incorporated into most breastfeeding statues, leading to some confusion among the general public.

Immigration Raids Split Families

Look, I'm a conservative. I suport enforcement of immigration laws. I'm all for building a big, tall, fence. But this goes too far:

This past week in Massachusetts, most of the 361 workers picked up in a raid at a New Bedford leather-goods factory that made vests and backpacks for the U.S. military were women with children, setting off what Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick called a "humanitarian crisis."

Community activists scrambled to locate the children, offer infant-care tips to fathers unfamiliar with warming formula and changing diapers, and gather donations of baby supplies. One baby who was breast-feeding had to be hospitalized for dehydration because her mother remained in detention, authorities said.

Child-care arrangements had to be made for at least 35 youngsters.

Officials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division released at least 60 of the workers who were sole caregivers to children, but more than 200 were sent to detention centers in Texas and New Mexico.

Breastfeeding Legal Update - Vermont (Delta/Freedom/Mesa)

Freedom and Delta airlines have asked that the complaint filed with the Vermont Human Rights Commission against them be dismissed. (link)

[Emily] Gillette is arguing that her civil rights were violated because breast-feeding is a right protected by Vermont's Public Accommodations Law.

Freedom Airlines argued in a Monday letter to the Human Rights Commission that the federal Airlines Deregulation Act trumps Vermont's human rights law, because state law cannot interfere with air carrier service.

Delta is, not surprisingly, arguing that since the flight attendant was a Freedom employee, they are not a proper party to the complaint.

In this case, the plane was on the ground so there is (apparently) no jurisdictional or choice-of- law question. If the plane was in the air, however, what then? Sounds like a law exam question to me.

(HT: Amy)

Milkdudz vs. Milk Duds Trademark Dispute

**Update 10/28/05** ABC News/AP has picked up this story.

Milkdudz, a company that sells hip, sexy nursing wear, is reportedly in a trademark dispute with Hershey's, maker of "Milk Duds" candies:

Attorney Theresa Middlebrook representing Hershey’s is claiming that a third party consumer would be easily confused between Milkdudz 'not your mommaz nursing wear' and the chocolate covered caramel candy known as "Milk Duds." Also, Hershey's is claiming that Milkdudz 'not your mommaz nursing wear' will somehow tarnish the reputation of the candy. Hershey’s is demanding that the name of the breastfeeding apparel company be changed and the domain rights handed over to Hershey's as soon as now.

Yeah, whatever.

The writer of the press release goes on to explain helpfully, for those who might have skipped Trademarking 101:

While Hershey's had the "Milk Duds" mark officially trademark in 1970, they only marked in the category of CANDY. When adding a trademark to any name/logo, there are many different categories in which you can have exclusive rights to, and while marking "Milk Duds," Hershey’s only marked it in the category "candy" so that technically left the category of "apparel" open.

On a (vaguely) related topic, Breastfeeding Witch Causing Stir In Vermont.