BF'ing Moms told to cover up (in Chandler, AZ)

[MarisaSF]

Thought this was an interesting story.... and that restrictions like this were illegal (guess not).

http://www.azcentral.com/community/c...sing09-ON.html

***************************
Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 9, 2005 02:15 PM

Mothers who breast-feed on Chandler city property must cover up, go to a private spot or leave if someone complains. Refuse and they could face criminal trespassing charges.

The rule takes effect this week after the City Council made no objections to an "administrative directive" released Monday by Community Services Director Mark Eynatten.

Resident Christia Bridges-Jones was among several women who earlier urged the city to not regulate public breast-feeding after a nursing mother was asked to leave a city pool picnic area earlier this summer.

"I'm flabbergasted that Chandler would take a position like this," she said. "It's a basic human right that my child be fed in a place where other children are fed."

Bridges-Jones said she is taking her cause to state lawmakers and is hopeful they will consider legislation allowing public breast-feeding.

Eynatten said Arizona law doesn't exclude nursing mothers who expose their breasts from "indecent exposure" prohibitions, and his directive conforms to that law.

It's also designed to give city employees a uniform policy on how to handle complaints without confrontation, Eynatten said.

He said city employees must now refer complaints about public breast-feeding to their supervisors. A supervisor will determine if the complaint is valid and if the woman's exposure is "unreasonably disturbing other members of the public."

The supervisor should "respectfully" ask the mother to cover herself or offer her a private place to feed the child. If she refuses, she will be asked to leave the building or grounds. Failure to leave could result in criminal trespassing charges, Eynatten said.

Amy Milliron, a Tempe mother who had urged Chandler officials to be more flexible, said she plans to attend Thursday's City Council meeting and hopes to convince members that the directive is bad policy. Bridges-Jones said she's not likely to attend.

"It's a done deal in Chandler; now it needs to go beyond the city," she said.

[ellies mom]

Wow. That is unreal. I'm sure "someplace private" includes the oh-so-lovely women's bathrooms that don't even have chairs. That's just nuts.

[new_mommy25]

That is so disgusting. I am the type of person who would nip anywhere at anytime, especially when DS was an infant. The ONLY TIME I ever got a negative comment about bf'ing was in Arizona when I was visiting my mom. I can't remember how old DS was at the time but I'm pretty sure he was younger than 6 months. Basically I was sitting in a chair at Macy's and two snooty women walked by and make a rude joke to each other about me. I was mortified and angry.

[jennifer_r]

I hope LLL or some other advocate group can get involved in this. Clearly, no one on the board ever breast fed a baby.

It sounds like it may have to be taken up with the state legislation. I know it's illegal in most states to ask a mother to stop breastfeeding. What's the law in AZ?

It gets me so upset thinking that people still relate breastfeeding to sexuality/indecent exposure.

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04
And another DD arriving end of October!

[hez]

Yuck, yuck, yuck. Apparently they haven't been reading the news to hear about all the *other* states & cities who are going completely the opposite way!

[elliput]

Just checked the LLL website for the Arizona info. Following is quated directly from the LLL site- "There is no legislation regarding breastfeeding. A bill was introduced in 2002 to exempt breastfeeding from indecent exposure laws; however, it did not become law."

This is really interesting considering all the other states surrounding Arizona have legislation protecting a woman's right to breastfeed in public. The only other state in the region (Mountain and Pacific time zones) that doesn't have specific legislation is Wyoming, which just has a join resolution from the governor. Interesting...

[DebbieJ]

Are those City Council members human? My goodness, how ridiculous!!

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10029.gif

Unbelievable. That's hideous and completely insensitive to the mother's needs. The whole tone of the article seemed like they were trying to cover there butts and not sound so inhumane. It's as if they think that nursing mothers and conniving to flash their breasts at any opportunity. Remind me to never move to Arizona.

Mariana
Owner of HappyDayBaby
Mom to Gabe, 8/03
www.heinzandmariana.com





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[ellies mom]

Ok, I'm going to post again since I just read the article more closely.

If you want to handle complaints without confrontation, then don't confront the mother. That simple. Thank the complainer, and go on your merry way. No confrontation necessary.

I'm pretty modest when I NIP, but stories like this just make me want to flip out my boob, nurse my baby and give anyone who oogles the bird...