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Public Breastfeeding: Stop Censoring Motherhood !

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Public Breastfeeding: Stop censoring motherhood!

Out of all of the decisions mothers have to make for their children, the choice to breastfeed is one of the most supported by medical organizations. The American Academy of Pediatricians released in their policy statement that “there are very few reasons not to breastfeed. Mothers make good healthy milk even if their diets are not full of nutritious foods” (“Breastfeeding and…”). While breastfeeding, also referred to as nursing is widely supported in many aspects of medicine and our government; that is not the case of doing so in public. There has been a growing debate within society on whether or not mothers should be allowed to nurse their children in public. This debate continues …show more content…

Society has no right to tell women what they should wear or how they should dress. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says that as a breastfeeding mother “No one should prevent you from breastfeeding your child simply because you are in a public area.” They cannot ask you to put a cover on or interrupt and ask you to move (OHRC breastfeeding brochure). Self-expression is a human right that many use to back up how they act, dress and speak, so why can’t nursing mothers have this same right? When a mom chooses to breastfeed in public, she is not only feeding her child but also showing society that she is not ashamed of being a breast feeding mother. She is capitalizing on her right to dress how she pleases, act as she pleases and express herself as she …show more content…

Those who are against women who feed in public argue that it is indecent exposure. An anonymous user on debate.org voted no when the question “should women breastfeed in public was brought up. “I agree that breastfeeding is natural, however it is indecent exposure. A woman walking around with an exposed chest is not something parents want their children to be exposed to, placing a baby in the equation does not change the fact that the woman is still exposing herself to the public” (debate.org). This would be a great point in the argument, if the government did not exempt breastfeeding women from this law. In America, West Virginia and Idaho are the only states that do not protect nursing mothers against the indecent exposure law, and Wyoming, South Dakota, and Michigan stop their protection of breastfeeding mothers at the public indecency law (Nursing Freedom). This would be the only way for society to stop women from nursing in public, but by women being protected by this law anyone who tries to stop them can be convicted of

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