The religious exception probably has the underlying idea of separation of church and state - the state does not have the right to dictate what a religion teaches its adherents - including the classification of dress inside the meeting place. There are all sorts of ways to extrapolate from other situations to this one.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Sulman and Anne Altshuler
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 8:56 PM
Subject: Massachusetts Has Its first Breastfeeding Law
Marsha wrote:
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 12:29:07 -0500
>
> From: [log in to unmask]
>
> Subject: Massachusetts Has Its First Breastfeeding Law
>
>
>
> ... The Governor of Massachusetts just signed our
>
> first breastfeeding legislation into law. We are no longer one of 3
>
> states without a breastfeeding law. The new law protects breastfeeding
>
> mothers in public and details can be read at the website of the
>
> Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition at www.massbfc.org. It took 8
>
> years of work to make this happen but we hung in there! Why is this so
>
> difficult for some people?
>
> Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
>
> Weston, MA
>
>
Read the story at
> http://massbfc.org/index.php/2009/governor-signs-breastfeeding-bill/
I wanted to congratulate Marsha and all the others whose hard work led to the passage of a law protecting breastfeeding in Massachusetts. We are restarting an effort to pass a similar bill in Wisconsin. Last year's bill had overwhelming support in the Wisconsin State Senate but was held up by a single legislator (a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, no less) who was head of the State Assembly Health Committee and was personally against the bill. This year her party is in the minority and she is no longer chair of the committee, so we will work again to get the bill passed. It is a long, slow process, and everything has to fall into place at the right times.
Anyway, I was not clear on why the Massachusetts bill (see it at
http://massbfc.org/pdf/S2438-08.pdf ) states, "A place of
religious instruction or worship shall not be subject to this section." Does that mean a religious setting is not subject to the protections for breastfeeding, or that it is not subject to the penalties (up to $500 fine and attorney fees) for interfering with the mother's right to breastfeed? (I agree with Winnie that it might be more helpful for us to phrase this as the child's right to breastfeed).
Marsha, can you clarify for us the exemption for religious settings?
It seems to me that if we make that exemption, it suggests that there is something unseemly about the act of breastfeeding.
For those interested in following the laws regarding breastfeeding in various states and countries, these web sites are helpful:
La Leche League Web Site: Breastfeeding and the Law:
http://www.llli.org/Law/LawUS.html?m=0,1,0
National Conference of State Legislatures web site, with laws on breastfeeding for every state: (Has not yet been updated to show the Massachusetts law).
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/breast50.htm
Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC, LLLL
Madison, wI,, USA
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