Hello all

This editorial appeared in my local newspaper yesterday, The Lawrence
Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence, Massachusetts (April 8, 2002).  I have looked on
the web for it and couldn't turn it up, so I'm typing it in exactly as it
appeared.  (This is not to say it is not on the web somewhere, just that I'm
not that proficient at searching.)

Here it is, in its entirety, including the email to respond, if desired. I am
hoping some of you very eloquent professionals will have time to do so.  All
comments in parantheses are hers, not mine.  This is her article, complete
with hyphen in the word breastfeeding.

Thank you

Lynn Abbe
Massachusetts

<<With a little courtesy, feeding a baby need not be political

By Betsy Hart

It's true that "breast is best" when it comes to feeding a young baby.  But
why has it become a political experience to be shared with the whole
community?  I have four children, including an infant, and I have breast-fed
each of them.  Occasionally I did so, very discreetly, in public, just as
thousands of new mothers do every day.  People rarely notice.  Or if they do,
they think little more of it than appreciating the mother's discretion.  In
other words, good manners generally prevail on both sides.

But that's not enough for the breast-feeding activists.  Yes, breast-feeding
is natural and even wonderful.  but so are a lot of bodily functions one
doesn't draw attention to in public.  Nevertheless, according to a recent
report in the Associated Press, the activists continue to push lawsuits in
many states that would guarantee all moms the "right" to nurse anytime,
anywhere.  (Is there anything these days that's not a "right"?)  Such
legislation is unnecessary for those moms who simply want to nourish their
infants unnoticeably and without making a public statement.

These laws are for women who think the personal really is the political, who
want to use such laws to flagrantly display their "rights"- and often way too
much of their breasts.  (Something I've witnessed too many times.)  The AP re
ported that one woman in California, a place with a sweeping "anytime
anywhere" law, was told not to breast-feed in a Borders bookstore and has
since settled a lawsuit over it.

But just imagine for a minute, in the granola-crunching,
Birkenstock-sandal-wearing environment of a California Borders bookstore,
where people are focused on their double-lattes and relationship "how-to"
books more than anything else, how offensive and flagrant a breast-feeding
mom would need to be to actually be told not to do it.  Another California
woman, reports the AP, was breast-feeding her infant at her older child's
elementary school when she was asked to use a private room instead.  She and
her lawyer are now seeking to "educate" the school system on her
breast-feeding rights.  But why was being asked to change venues so
scandalous?  I don't have a problem with my kids seeing other moms
breast-feed if it's done decorously, but other parents might - especially if
the moms are proudly or otherwise exposing a little too much flesh.

Why couldn't that mom respect the rights of those parents as she (supposedly)
wants her own "rights" respected?

Because breasts have become political.  And perhaps nowhere is this more
evident than in the workplace.

A Hooters employee is suing because she syas her managers humiliated her for
pumping milk.  (How a woman who works at Hooters could suggest she's
humiliated by anything is beyond me.)  She's hardly alone, according to the
AP story, since there are more and more lawsuits being launched against
companies for not accommodating mothers who want to pump and store breast
milk during working hours.

Never mind that this is a process that can easily overrun, or not wait for, a
break, and which often invites other problems.  Many employers, particularly
the small businesses where the vast majority of these pumping-moms work, just
don't have the luxury of providing private rooms for these mothers, yet the
moms complain if they feel they have to do it in the bathroom.

Well, sorry , but having myself pumped, I can tell you that it is one sight I
definitely want to be spared watching other women perform.

Yet, viewing workplaces as nurseries instead of business establishments is
increasingly in vogue.  That's one reason Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney,
D-NY, is self-righteously demanding that breast-feeding "rights" in the
workplace be included in the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Meanwhile, I see more and more information in parenting magazines about
"pumping" at the office.  One advertisement explained how a woman on a
business trip could pump on the road and send her milk home via FedEx and
lots of dry ice.  That way it can stay fresh for two days.

Wow.  Thanks, mom.

All of which makes me think that too often the women demanding their "rights"
to pump their breast milk at work are really just trying to assuage their
guilty consciences about leaving their infant in child care with strangers
for 10 hours a day.

In any event, as for the mythologuy that there is a general problem facing
moms who publicly breast-feed, but who do it discreetly and with
consideration for the sensiblities of others, nice try.  The truth is it's
really only a problem for those women trying to feed their egos or their
politics more than their babies.>>

Betsy Hart, a frequent commentator on CNN and the Fox News Channel, can be
reached by e-mail at:  [log in to unmask]

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