From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:


Looking out for moms' breast interests

                              by Mark McDonald
                            Daily News Staff Writer

Hold onto your hats or whatever, folks, 'cause we have ourselves
another Philadelphia first.

This is a city that sends teams of burly L&I inspectors into strip
clubs to make sure the exotic dancers have pasties large enough to
cover their nipples.

Now comes City Councilman Angel Ortiz, who wants to make sure that any
woman with a nursing baby can feel comfortable about exposing her
breast to nurse.

Ortiz proposes to use the city's fair practices code to make illegal
any attempt to keep out or segregate nursing mothers from public
accommodations ``irrespective of whether or not the nipple of the
mother's breast is covered during or incidental to breast-feeding.''

And according to a spokesman for La Leche League, Philadelphia would
be the first city in the United States to protect public nursing
through legislation.

There are, however, a number of states that have enacted laws
protecting public breast-feeding. New Jersey is considering a bill
that would require the segregation of breast-feeding mothers, an
approach the La Leche League opposes.

Kay Hoover, lactation consultant for the city Health Department, said
the department was promoting breast-feeding because mother's milk is a
key element of a baby's diet.

``We are ecstatic that City Council is making a stand that mothers may
breast-feed in public places without being told to leave,'' Hoover
said. ``If a woman is to nurse her child in a way that promotes
optimal health, she will surely need to be in a public place.''

Ortiz, who has 16 of 17 Council members sponsoring his bill, offered
``anecdotal'' comment on incidents where ``mothers have been made to
feel very uncomfortable by waiters. As a city we want to send the
message that this is not permitted.''

Elizabeth Baldwin, a Florida attorney with La Leche, said
breast-feeding was not a lifestyle choice but a serious health issue
for both the mother and baby.

Baldwin said while she has no evidence of any women being arrested for
breast-feeding, ``the truth of it is the social ostracism can result
in a mother choosing to wean.''

And, of course, as Ortiz conducted the news conference in his
fifth-floor office, three mothers nursed their babies.