I have been amazed at all the stories about unsympathetic judges and jury duty. I have never served on a jury because I was either pregnant or nursing at the times I have been called. Here in Texas, you can check a box that says "Other" after all the standard excuses listed, then write in your situation. Several times I have said "I'm pregnant and having a lot of morning sickness. If you don't mind me jumping up to go vomit during the proceedings, I'll be happy to serve." Other times I have written "I am nursing a child. I will have to have my active, noisy child with me in order to nurse. If you don't mind that, I'll be happy to serve." And once I had neither excuse, but wrote in "I teach at the university. If you call me for jury duty then 150 students will be left without their teacher, and won't be able to complete their class." Then I've sent my card in, and never heard another word about it, in any of the situations. Around here they call 80-100 people for each jury they need, so there are always plenty of people, and twice when my husband has gone down they've either dismissed everybody because the trial was postponed or else they haven't gotten to him before they had everybody they needed. It probably would be a good idea for everyone who might potentially be called for jury duty to find out ahead of time what their state and local laws are about mothers caring for young children (usually excused). A radical solution of some friends of ours is not to register to vote, as the jury members are chosen from the voting rolls. They have some problem with serving on a jury. Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology Specialist in infant feeding and growth of children Texas A&M University e-mail to [log in to unmask] (409) 845-5256 (409) 778-4513