Waiting for my son in the lobby of our
neighborhood elementary school in Austin Independent School District, I
was discreetly nursing my baby when I was told to go to a private
conference room. But I know that my right to breastfeed in public is
protected by Texas law.
Sec. 165.002. RIGHT TO BREAST-FEED. A
mother is entitled to breast-feed her baby in any location in which
the mother is authorized to be.
I discovered that the
district did not have a written policy, only a longstanding practice of
doing what was done to me. Why is this a problem? Because simply asking a nursing mother to breastfeed privately implies that she is doing something wrong by breastfeeding publicly.
After months of going through proper channels to get a written policy supporting nursing mothers, the district instead formalized their longstanding practice. I had exhausted my options as a lone mother, so I went public, asking for support. Eventually the discriminatory regulation was rescinded. We were given to understand that a new regulation was forthcoming, but now administration has decided not to bother.
So we're right back where we started, needing a policy to educate, and prevent further discrimination.
Please check out "How You Can Help (Even If You're Not an Austinite)."
Write to AISD, or call. Comment here. Join the Facebook page. Sign the petition. And tell all your friends!
Testing the comment function from my phone, getting comments on fb that it us not working. Fingers crossed...
ReplyDeleteThank you for 1. nursing your baby in public, especially a school, where children can see you and learn that breastfeeding is the normal way of feeding a baby, 2. approaching the issue with a calm, clear determination to create change in your community, and 3. creating this blog to let people in other US states and countries know so that we can support and encourage you and help you create change in AISD!
ReplyDeleteTina, thank you! I really appreciate the support!
DeleteWhat they are doing is illegal! Have you called the Best For Babes NIP hotline yet? (I'd post the number if I wasn't on my phone.
ReplyDeleteAthene, I agree! I have not yet called the number (it's 1-855-NIP-FREE) but I got to meet the woman who came up with the idea! Calling is on my To Do list. Thank you so much for bringing it up. Such a fantastic resource; I'm glad to see it being promoted!
DeleteI posted to her FB group and she said that you should call it so the case gets documented.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo... this is my simple thought.
ReplyDeleteThere is a law that protects nursing mothers from not being able to nurse in public. It's pretty clear (Sec. 165.002. RIGHT TO BREAST-FEED. A mother is entitled to breast-feed her baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to be).
If I break the law, I get fined, ticketed, held accountable.
Seems to me... the law has been broken.
Seems to me you have written proof the law has been broken.
You've done more to help them make it right than 99% of the people out there. Heck... 90% of the people would have given up.
You've come this far. May as well follow through.
Call the cops.
(This long winded response is from husband of the primary administrator. Anyone reading this should know that Sean is a very close friend of me and my family) Sean, I like the cut of your jib, but sadly it's not that cut and dry.
DeleteFirst, we like our school and we don't want to make things difficult for our sons who attend it. Considering we'll have kids there for the next 17 years a scene involving police would have been undesirable. And besides, it wouldn't have made anything better, because of a second challenge: The Texas law lacks an enforcement provision. Which means, even though the entire school district has now sided with the principal and adopted a new policy that breaks the law, there is little that can be done to enforce said law.
From: http://breastfeedinglaw.com/ :
"The vast majority of public breastfeeding laws in the United States have no enforcement provision. That means that while a state may have a law that says a mother has a right to breastfeed in public, if someone harasses her while she does it, there is probably no legal action she can take against the harasser. Depending on the circumstances of a particular incident, there may be a lawsuit a lawyer can bring but, by and large, women can not afford lawyers, few lawyers will take breastfeeding cases pro bono, and there are few viable legal claims. In short, a breastfeeding law without an enforcement provision is of little to no value to breastfeeding women."
Does that mean my wife is giving up? Obviously not! In the past few days she had 5,326 views and counting on her blog: http://keepaustinnip.blogspot.com/ Many of those people are writing letters to people in the district: http://keepaustinnip.blogspot.com/2012/11/contact-information.html Also, she has 279 fans!! At the rate it's growing, I believe she can get that to 1,035, don't you? Austin ISD's face book page has 1,034 followers so that plus 1 is our current goal! (please tell your like minded friends to "Like" us on Facebook!!)
So the only way we'll get AISD, the 34th larges school district in the country, to conform to Sec. 165.002. RIGHT TO BREAST-FEED. is by applying public pressure to step up and do the right thing. And the pressure has just begun... more on that another time.
So is the situation hopeless? No.
Sean, you know my wife so you can vouch for what I am about to write. AISD's team of lawyers may be bigger than her, but I'd still bet on her. My wife is fearless and tough, (she gave birth to three big kids with giant heads without any medication, the most recent of which at home.) she's determined, (In our 17 years together I've never seen her give up on what she knew was right.) she,s brillant, (Her blog is proof of that!) and most importantly, with all of our new friends backing her, we can't lose!
Sean, I adore you. :)
DeleteWow. How DARE they? As a fellow Texan (that moved to CA) and breastfeeding mother of two, mistreatment of nursing mothers is too frequent and completely unacceptable. Our babies have the basic human right to eat.
ReplyDeleteBut it happens everywhere EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. And it makes me sick. Have you seen the Best for Babes hotline 1 month post?
http://www.bestforbabes.org/nip-hotline-news-the-first-31-days
Ihis is my blog. by the way, paa.la, and facebook page https://www.facebook.com/paalasblog :D I am putting you on my google reader to keep updated.
Paala, thank you for your support! You're a rock star!
DeleteI have seen the Best for Babes post. What is shocking to me is that they only just launched! As more people become aware of the service, there are bound to be many, many more calls.
I love your blog post. Thank you! I just "liked" your facebook page, too. :)
Best for Babes has been around since 2007 or so. It's accepted a bunch of corporate money in the last year from companies that sell products to mothers, which has given it more of a budget. They're very good at fundraising. (All this info is readily available by looking at their 990s on Guidestar.org).
DeleteI am a teacher in AISD and the place we are offered to pump is the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom! When I go back to work I will be pumping in the car.
ReplyDeleteThat is TERRIBLE! Pumping is hard enough to do, without having to worry about sanitation, or where to sit! They should, at the very least, let you do it in the lounge under a nursing cover. That is disgusting! AISD needs to catch up with the times!
Delete