Moms Don’t Need Permission For Breastfeeding, Even In Public Places

When a story begins with the words, “despite the fact that breastfeeding in public is legal in [xyz state],” it is clear that: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Of course it is legal. It was never ILLEGAL. What the laws do is legally protect the right that women already have to breastfeed their babies, because there continue to be attacks on women who breastfeed in public. But it is crucial to remember that breastfeeding is not, in any state, illegal. It is ludicrous to believe that the government has the power to make it illegal. It is also scary to think that some people believe that the state has that right.

Women who choose to breastfeed, especially in public places, sometimes still face discrimination and persecution by people who mistakenly believe that they have a say in the issue. That is the reason that breastfeeding laws exist in 46 states: to protect the right that women already HAVE.

Women are still told that they need to go to a bathroom to nurse, even though no one would dream of commanding an adult to eat their lunch in a dirty bathroom.

Ladies are told that they must use a blanket or cover-up so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of those around them. This, despite the fact that scantily clad women in string bikinis rarely raise those same eyebrows. If they do, the ones offended don’t have the same boldness to verbally attack the one in the bikini like they do the fully clothed woman who happens to have a baby’s mouth covering the nipple.

Those demanding the cover up simply do not comprehend that many babies will have NO part of that blanket ritual, and will end up drawing more attention, not less, to the fact that his mommy is breastfeeding him.

Just last week, a mother in Oregon was told by the management of The Ram Restaurant and Brewery that she needed to cover up while breastfeeding her six-month-old baby, as reported by The Inquisitr.

It is time for a paradigm shift. Instead of being helpless sheeple who believe that the government GIVES us basic human rights, like the right to breastfeed or to give birth where and with whom one chooses, it is time to remember that government has no power to give basic human rights; we already possess those “unalienable Rights” by virtue of being human. It is the proper role of government to SECURE those rights, but we already have them.

Have we forgotten the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”

Of course it is legal to breastfeed in public. Babies need it, and it is normal human life. Humans are mammals, and, hence, have mammary glands. In case anyone missed that point in basic science class, mammary glands are for breastfeeding.

August is World Breastfeeding Month, a time when breastfeeding advocates everywhere, including La Leche League leaders, encourage more breastfeeding and tout the myriad benefits to mother and baby of breastfeeding.

It is also time to remind society that no mother needs anyone’s permission to breastfeed her baby.

[images via Jem Grismshaw, and David Horsey / Los Angeles Times]