This editorial ran in The [New Jersey] Record on November 25, 1996. A good bill (without the restrictions) was passed overwhelmingly by the New Jersey legislature after this editorial ran. Governor Christine Todd Whitman signed it into law in May 19, 1997.

Politicians in New Jersey are daring to go where no legislators have gone before. In this era of having less government in our bedrooms, Garden-state Republicans have decided that we need more government in our dining rooms. What menace are they intent on protecting us from - none other than breastfeeding babies.

This month, the New Jersey State Assembly passed a bill restricting public breastfeeding to designated areas. All a public facility would have to do is post a sign proclaiming "This is a Breastfeeding-Free Zone" and women would be forced excuse themselves to nurse their children undercover. This, in the enlightened '90's, when nursing mothers finally began from moving from the home to the House.

Instead of the Assembly's original goal of producing a bill proclaiming that mothers have the right to determine where and when to feed their babies, they overwhelmingly passed a bill severely restricting breastfeeding. At the end of the day, an amended version passed 71-2, leaving the bill's original sponsor, Assemblywoman Barbara Buono, a dissenter.

Public breastfeeding became an issue in that state after two highly publicized incidents. In one, a woman was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after refusing to curtail her child's snack in a Cherry Hill shopping mall. In the other, a mother was asked to leave a Princeton toy store when she was found quietly nursing in one of the aisles. She protested stating she had a right to perform such a perfectly natural act, to which the store owner replied, "Making love is a natural act, too, but you wouldn't want a couple of teenagers doing that in the middle of the store, either."

It is important to understand here that breastfeeding, per se, has never been illegal. In fact, Federal case law established in 1981 a constitutional right to breastfeed. What has happened, though, is that women, often doing nothing more risqué than nursing while sitting in a parked car, were being harassed and charged under obscenity laws.

In an effort to encourage both the incidence and duration of breastfeeding (which provides significant health benefits to both mothers and children), individual states began passing legislation to clarify a mother's right to breastfeed and to help change public perception that breastfeeding is not obscene. Florida initiated this trend in 1993, New York, Illinois and Michigan soon followed suit. To date, 12 states have passed laws specifically protecting breastfeeding. That is what New Jersey legislators set out to do when things took an unexpected turn.

Republican Assemblyman Guy Gregg felt their bill -- which stated that a woman had the right to breastfeed anywhere -- was too broad. He orchestrated a last-minute amendment forcing nursing mothers to feed in restricted zones, when such zones are made available. Gregg, who also happens to be a restaurant owner, was quoted as saying that this gives business owners the right to call the police if a woman nurses somewhere other than in the designated area.

Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, a Republican supporter of the bill summed up her feelings this way: "A baby can be used to embarrass people. There are women who do exactly that kind of thing." Of course, this is not the first time the you-just-want-to-embarrass-me logic has been used. When the Virginia bill was being debated two years ago, officials opposed to it predicted it would result in hordes of topless women flocking to the beaches … either nursing or pretending to.

Last week, the New Jersey Senate Committee passed the bill without the restrictive amendment. Now, the full Senate must consider the measure, then the Assembly and Senate will have to hammer out a compromise, but Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman has stated that she supports the restrictions -- because when she was a nursing mother, she was always hiding and would have liked to have had a place to nurse.

But this is precisely where the legislators got it wrong. Having the option to go to a nice, quiet room with a sink and a rocking chair is great. No one is opposed to businesses offering special amenities to nursing mothers. But, being told you must leave your companions, your hot meal, your other children, and go away so you won't be a nuisance to others is quite another. Almost any mother who has nursed in public can talk of the humiliation and shame she felt when being told by a waiter, manager or security guard to use a bathroom to breastfeed so as not to embarrass others. There is a big difference between an option and an exile.

Nursing restrictions tarnish the joy and importance of breastfeeding and are the equivalent of asking a mother to feed her child standing in a corner. Such restrictions would have a chilling effect on breastfeeding at a time when US breastfeeding rates are beginning to rise. There are many things that could be thought of as offensive - like using a fork in a Chinese restaurant, leaving a beeper on in a movie, or taking a parking space reserved for the handicapped when there is nothing wrong with you - but we don't go around passing bills against them.

Whitman has been heralded as a new breed of leader. It is nice to see a competent woman leading the state. Let's just hope she doesn't lead us right into the closet.

Dia L. Michels
P.O. Box 15348
Washington, DC 20003-0348
202-546-2356-fax
DiaMichels@aol.com

Return to The Table of Contents          Send mail to Dia