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Date: | Tue, 7 Jun 2005 15:12:09 -0500 |
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I have been actively engaged in legislative lobbying to promote
breastfeeding as a public health issue since 1994, when we passed a bill in
Texas to protect the rights of women to breastfeed in public. While
nurse-ins do attract a certain kind of media interest, I have mixed feelings
about them. The flurry of attention they create as a novelty action never
seems to generate sustained attention on the issues that should be
receiving scrutiny from policy makers.
What is lacking is action to remove the barriers that prevent US women from
meeting the stated goals. These barriers are, in many cases, institutional
and systemic. They could be reduced if there was a will to do so.
I'd like to see the energy that it takes to mobilize a nurse-in be
re-focused into a less "trendy" action. I'd like to see crowds of women
descend upon their state legislatures for a visit with their congressional
representatives. I'd like them to ask when lawmakers are going to enact
substantive policy to ensure that formula manufacturers have less direct
access to women in hospital (e.g. distribution of formula advertising
samples by licensened health personnel). Another good question would be to
ask when employers are going to be mandated to provide reasonable access to
privacy for a few minutes so new mothers can pump milk for their babies, or
when health insurance companies are going to provide reimbursement for the
services of lactation consultants.
It would also be great (and I'm echoing Karen Quena's nice post on this) if
LCs would join their professional organizations (both locally and
nationally) so that there would be more money and people-power to draw from
to engage in sustained lobbying. It's exciting to get on the news, but for
many people, nurse-ins are everything they don't like about bfg (because
they seem to suggest you must be an extrovert to breastfeed) and may even
distract from serious dialog about substantive issues.
Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com
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