The terrible controversey of Breastfeeding in PR

[liya]

UUURRRRGHHHH!!!!! As you may well know i live in Puerto Rico and have just read the newspaper and had a terrible fit.....Our little island will begin trying to arrest breastfeeding mothers for indecent exposure.....I mean what the f^%*&^%*%* is that this is horrible....They are saying that breasts are something sexual and should be seen as that...I mean WTF!! Geeezzzzz ..Listen to this:" a young woman was purchasing a few articles in a baby store when suddenly her baby began to pout..in a motherly instinct act she unbuttoned her bra and began feeding her baby while she was about to pay for her items and head out of the store..The manager of the store tells said:are you oging to breastfeed?? and told her that she had to go outside because she could not breasfeed in the store(screaming i might add)..the young woman burst out of the store crying...."


This gets me soooo annoyed you know someone will hear about this from me...Someone will get a very nasty letter very soon....

I just want to add that in Puerto Rico there are no laws agains feeding your baby in public.. It is just now that they are debating of putting some kind of law to forbid this action in public since the senate calls this something of "bad taste"..I swear i would go to the senate with thousands of breastfeeding women and have them fully expose their breasts and start feeding their children.....


This is utterly horrifying for me and you can be sure i will join protestors on this....

[jojo2324]

I would love a link to that article if you could find one.

I just found this searching for legislature in PR on BFing, and it was the only thing that seemed relevant.

Act to Regulate the Period for Breastfeeding or to Express Milk

Act No. 427 of December 16, 2000, which will become effective on March 16, 2001, requires employers to provide a leave of thirty minutes per day to employees that have returned from maternity leave to breastfeed their babies when the employer keeps a day-care facility. In the alternative, the employer must provide a place to permit mothers to express milk for a similar period of time.

The Act provides that this leave is required for a maximum period of twelve months after the return by the working mother to her job.

According to Article 8, every employer must guarantee to mothers that so request, the right to breastfeed her baby or express their milk.

Article 9 provides an exemption from taxes (presumably, income taxes) to employers that grant this right to working mothers. The exemption is equivalent to one month of salary of the employee that exercises the right to breastfeed or express her milk.

Article 10 provides that employers that refuse to guarantee the right granted under the Act may be subject to a fine, which might be equal to three times the salary of the employee for every day in which the period for breastfeeding is denied.

The Act is poorly drafted and the Department of Labor and the Department of Treasury should issue regulations to clarify some of its provisions.


It would seem to me that a state that allows for this would surely allow for public breastfeeding!! What year are we in here, 1955? What a shame. I have been very fortunate that nobody has ever come up to me and made a comment about BFing, because they would have received a rather loud and hormonal earful! I think that young teenaged girls running around in their Sex and the City outfits and acting like characters on SATC is more offensive. It's not like we're out there topless or being disrespectful (though I am almost positive that it is now legal in NY for women to go topless in public! :D). I am always careful to cover up and try to be discreet about BFing.

[liya]

its in spanish but here are the links...

http://www.endi.com/noticia.asp?newsid=30366

the link to the other article(the one where they want to pass a law) as at the wee bottom you have to subscribe(its free) to read it


Edited to say there are many ppl actively fighting for this, but it seems that here in PR breastfeeding is not the norm...(sigh) anyhow for the women who do want to breastfeed it has been a pretty tough battel. even though some would warranty this as a cobstitutional right...here it seems as though that many ppl think brests are a taboo only used to arouse men and nothing more...shamefull...

[sweetbasil]

Linda,
Does the very bottom link to another related article say (I couldn't get their link to work) that only 4% of women in PR bf?

[liya]

Yes, sad but true..Here WIC pays for almost every childs formula so it is easier for ppl to just say ill just give a bottle rather than having the breast as an option..Although i do not condone ppl whatsoever that decide not to breaastfeed(it is a matter of choice that is completely personal and no one can take that away from you)...Horrible information is given to women that do want to breastfeed.. And now for future moms that want to breastfeed here the battle is only getting harder, making it more of an obligation to bottle feed rather than an option..

the other article in the weee bottom right after the 4% breastfeeding is the one that states that ppl want a law to be passed that women be arrested or fined for indecent exposure if caught brestfeeding in public..this is what is shamefull to me...

[stillplayswithbarbies]

From what I understand reading about this on breastfeeding.com boards, it is actually pro-breastfeeding. PR law says that public places must provide a place for breastfeeding, and the clerk was telling the woman that she could go to the breastfeeding room in the mall.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03