TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Gail Ravnitzky,
Senior Legislative Assistant to Rep. Carolyn Maloney
DATE: Wednesday, July 8, 1998
RE: New York City press conference on HR 3531, the New Mothers'
Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act
DETAILS ABOUT THE NEW YORK CITY PRESS CONFERENCE:
DATE: Friday, July 10, 1998
TIME: 11:00 a.m. (It should last about an hour or so)
PLACE: City Hall, located in City Hall Park in Manhattan,
which is bordered by Chambers St.,
Center St., and Broadway
***SPREAD THE WORD!!!
This event will be open to the public, and
children of all ages will be welcome as well.***
Hope to see you there!
Speakers:
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, author of H.R. 3531, the New Mothers'
Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act in the U.S. House of
Representatives (more info about this bill is available at:
<www.house.gov/maloney/breast.htm>
New York State Senator Catherine Abate, author of S. 7282, the New
Mothers' Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act in the New York
State Senate (more info about this bill is available at:
<www.senate.state.ny.us>
MaryBeth Mikalsen, Lake Ronkonkoma, NY, and her son, Ryan Scott, born in
December, 1997
MaryBeth was a dental assistant in a 4- or 5-person woman dentist's
office in Shoreham, Long Island. When she returned to work after her
maternity leave, she was told "lactation was going to be a problem."
She says: "I gave birth to my first child Ryan six months ago...I
decided to breastfeed my son, because breast milk is the perfect food
for an infant. I realized the importance of giving my son the best
nutrition possible. I decided to go back to work three months after
Ryan was born. I figured I would express my breast milk during my meal
breaks. Before I went back to work, I was told that my lactation needs
were going to be a problem. I only needed a forty five-minute break,
during a nine-hour workday. I was harassed at work and forced to quit
my job. I filed for unemployment and was told that there were no laws
to protect my lactation needs...I never knew what it felt like to be
discriminated against, unfortunately I now have that experience. I am
hopeful that in the future, there will be a law to protect women that go
back to work and decide to breastfeed their child."
Annette Rodriguez, of New York, New York
and her daughter Meagan, born in March 1997
Annette worked for 4 years as a secretary at a bank in New York City.
She appreciated that the company had on-site day care, and used a
medical room to pump twice per day. Some coworkers were not very
supportive, and made her feel bad about taking extra breaks to express
milk. Many have asked her why she is still breastfeeding, and have
asked "when are you going to stop." She would tell them: "Everybody
else takes a cigarette break, so I took breaks and told people, just
pretend I'm outside smoking." She has continued to breastfeed her
daughter. When she recently developed carpel tunnel syndrome, she filed
for workers' comp, but an Human Resources person told her: "we don't
think it is carpel tunnel, we think it is tendinitis due to
breastfeeding." She is still fighting with her company about this
issue, and has taken a 6-week leave. Her daughter has been very
healthy, except for getting chicken pox, and her doctor told her it was
a good thing she was breastfeeding because the doctor felt the baby was
in better shape to handle the chicken pox.
Denise M. Lewis of Fort Washington, Maryland (tentative)
Denise wrote: "In January of this year, I returned to my job as a
Computer Specialist for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department
of Justice, three months after giving birth to my son. I pumped my milk
thanks to co-workers who gave up their work spaces and a storage closet
until I relocated into an office. I experienced sudden disruptions
because the office was an entryway for a computer equipment storage
room, frequently accessed throughout the day by staff and contractors.
Although I locked and posted a sign outside the door, occasionally a
very apologetic staff member would use their key and walk into the
office while I was expressing my milk. My breast milk production
declined."
Dr. Nicholas Cunningham, a pediatrician and public health physician at
Columbia University will represent the American Academy of Pediatrics
and discuss their recommendation for children to be breastfed for at
least the first year of life.
OTHER NOTES ABOUT THE BILL:
Thank you for your interest in this legislation. Please keep the
workplace lactation stories coming, and please contact your
Congressperson to let him/her know your feelings about this bill. We
are making progress, although it is sometimes a slow process. More info
will be added to our website soon.
If you would like to be added to or deleted from this e-mail update
list, please contact me at: <[log in to unmask]>. Please be
sure to include your full e-mail address in the text of the message.
----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]>
Received: from relay07.mx.aol.com (relay07.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.7]) by
air14.mail.aol.com (v45.16) with SMTP; Wed, 08 Jul 1998 19:17:52 -0400
Received: from iodine.house.gov (iodine.house.gov [137.18.128.25])
by relay07.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with ESMTP id TAA24620;
Wed, 8 Jul 1998 19:17:38 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from msg10.house.gov (msg10.house.gov [143.231.53.69]) by
iodine.house.gov with SMTP id TAA63022; Wed, 8 Jul 1998 19:16:29 -0400 (EDT)
Received: by msg10.house.gov with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Server Internet
Mail Connector Version 4.0.995.52)
id <[log in to unmask]>; Wed, 8 Jul 1998 19:17:50 -0400
Message-ID:
<[log in to unmask]>
From: "Ravnitzky, Gail" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: press conference on Friday, July 10
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 19:17:30 -0400
X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version
4.0.995.52
Encoding: 102 TEXT
|
