Diane, your decision should not be based on what will happen to you, what
is best for you and your reputation. Your decision should be based on what
is best for mothers and babies. you matter a lot less than the cause of
women and children.

Is it better that you cancel, create an image of LCs as weird and radical,
unprofessional and judgmental, and have a replacement speaker step in who
is neither as good clinically (and so mothers suffer) nor as concerned
morally (and so no one think about the important issues you want to raise).
You have a golden opportunity to educate and if you do it honestly and
nicely, non-judgmentally but with sadness over the need to say anything at
all, sorrow at healthwokers' dependence on company funds; if you thank the
bottlefeeding low-income women who pay for those gifts and freebies to
healthworkers through the excessive price of formula, you will start a
mini-revolution in some minds otherwise closed. Go, gal, with my blessing
and sock it to 'em sweetly but firmly. Scary stuff and takes more guts than
staying away. And know too that you will suffer at teh hands of those who
value their personal PERCEIVED moral purity above the needs of the
well-meaning and ignorant healthworkers they exist to serve. Join the
politically-incorrect, frequently-defamed caring crowd, kiddo. But don't
expect to be understood by some. It takes tough women to do this work.

Of course you don't take ABM money (they can find other if they want you);
and if the ABM companies are paying for lunch you ostentatiously take out
your brown bag lunch, having advised them beforehand not to cater for you
because you don't want to add to the cost of formula for poor women and the
risk of dilution to their babies. Do it all so sweetly and gently that no
one can take offence: we care about all babies, not just the breastfed
ones, is the message you want to give. Maureen Minchin