HR 2790 by Maloney:
Maloney introduces legislation, releases two new
Congressional reports on breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding Promotion Act would shield mothers from discrimination for
breastfeeding, encouraging new mothers to breastfeed.
Visit this site for more updates.
For Immediate Release
July 25, 2003
Contact: Afshin
Mohamadi
202-225-7944
FIGHTING FOR NEW
MOTHERS
Maloney
introduces legislation, releases two new Congressional reports on
breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding Promotion Act would shield mothers from
discrimination for breastfeeding, encouraging new mothers to breastfeed
WASHINGTON, DC - Promoting healthy families and ensuring the rights of
new mothers, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-14) introduced H.R. 2790, the
Breastfeeding Promotion Act, on July 18, 2003, with twelve bipartisan
original cosponsors. Her legislation amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964
to protect breastfeeding by new mothers, provides for a performance
standard for breast pumps, and provides tax incentives to encourage
breastfeeding.
To bolster the already substantial evidence that breastfeeding improves
the health of both mother and child, Rep. Maloney released today two
reports by the Congressional Research Service (CRS): Breast-feeding:
Impact on Health, Employment and Society and Summary of State
Breastfeeding Laws.
“Moms contact me all of the time frustrated because they would like to
breastfeed, but face some really tough obstacles both at work and in
public settings” said Rep. Maloney. “This has to change. Creating more
family-friendly work environments so that women can express breast milk
is a positive first step. My legislation supports and
protect mothers who choose to breastfeed.”
“Breastfeeding not only makes healthier children, it’s beneficial for
businesses! Employers who support employee lactation programs help to
reduce worker absenteeism, staff turnover and increases retention of
skilled workers. One way employers can make the workplace a better
place: support working women that breastfeed. Employers should not stand
in the way of a woman doing the most natural thing on earth –
breastfeeding her child.”
CRS noted in the report that “The health benefits to the infant include
the high nutritional quality of human milk, and a decrease in various
infectious and other diseases of infancy. Mothers seem to benefit with a
more rapid return to the prepregnancy state
of their bodies, improved glucose and lipid metabolism, delayed
ovulation, and the possible reduction of certain cancers. Proponents of
workplace lactation programs cite their benefits to employers as reduced
employee absenteeism, increased productivity, increased company loyalty
and morale, lower health care costs, and improved employee retention.”
[CRS RL32002]
Additionally, CRS found in their research that, “In recent years, there
has been an expansion in the practice of breastfeeding. As a consequence
of this growing trend, 34 states have enacted legislation associated
with breastfeeding. The laws vary considerably in their scope and in
their coverage.” [CRS RL31633]
The patchwork of state laws are laudable, but overall federal protection
is needed.
“I have heard many horror stories of women who were fired for trying to
figure out a way to express milk at work,” said Maloney. “My bill
clarifies the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to protect breastfeeding
under federal civil rights law, ensuring that women cannot be fired or
discriminated against in the workplace for expressing (pumping) milk, or
breastfeeding during breaks or lunch time.”
BACKGROUND:
Congresswoman Maloney first passed breastfeeding legislation in the
106th Congress when her Right to Breastfeed language was passed as part
of the FY 2001 budget, ensuring a woman's right to breastfeed her child
on any portion of Federal property where the woman and her child are
otherwise authorized to be. In the 105th Congress, Rep. Maloney was able
to include in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children
(WIC) reauthorization bill a measure that allows state agencies to use
the WIC food program funds to provide educational materials on
breastfeeding, and allows state agencies to use additional WIC funds to
purchase breast pumps.
View Congressional Research Service Reports
CRS Report on Benefits of Breastfeeding
CRS Report on State Laws and Breastfeeding
View Fact Sheet on H.R. 2790
If anyone is looking for a summary of enacted
state legislation, there are a few good sources in addition to the LLLI
website:
"Selling Out Mothers and Babies: Marketing of
Breastmilk Substitutes in the USA" by NABA has the complete text of all
enacted state breastfeeding legislation through 7/22/01
"State Breastfeeding Legislation" from the US
Breastfeeding Committee is an issue paper available as a free download
from
www.usbreastfeeding.org.
This is an issue paper authored by Liz Baldwin that contains summary
explanations of the different types of state
laws as well as a listing of all laws as of 1/29/03
"Summary of State Breastfeeding Laws"
from the Congressional Research Service has the text of all enacted
breastfeeding laws as of July 23, 2003 and can
be downloaded from:
www.house.gov/maloney/issues/breastfeeding/CRS_Report_on_State_Breastfeeding.pdf
. This document was written on request of Rep Carolyn Maloney
(NY-14) who has just introduced her breastfeeding legislation once again
into Congress, HR2790. She also released another report from the
Congressional Research Service to help bolster her bill with Congress,
entitled "Breastfeeding: Impact on Health,
Employment and Society" available to download from:
www.house.gov/maloney/issues/breastfeeding/CRS_Report_on_Benefits_of_Breastfeeding.pdf.
During the US Breastfeeding Committee's meeting in
Washington, DC, Rep Maloney's legislative aide met with us and briefed
members of the Legislative and Policy Work Group on the newly filed
bill. It has 4 parts: ensures that women cannot be fired or
discriminated against in the workplace for
breastfeeding or expressing milk, provides tax incentives to employers
for providing pumping facilities or hiring a
lactation consultant, seeks minimum safety standards for breast pumps,
and allows breastfeeding equipment to be tax
deductible. If you wish to track this bill, use
http://thomas.loc.gov/
which is the web site of the Library of
Congress and allows you to track any federal bills that have been filed.
Rep Maloney is looking for more sponsors of this
bill. Feel free to write to your federal Representative to
Congress urging support of HR2790. Senator Olympia Snowe has introduced
senate bill S418 which is a bill to protect breastfeeding that
amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And to top off all of this, many states have
pending breastfeeding legislation. Here in Massachusetts we have 5
breastfeeding bills that have been introduced
during the current legislative session, including one I am working
on to license IBCLCs. NABA is cataloging all
pending state breastfeeding legislation. If you
know of a bill that has been introduced into your state
legislature and is currently pending, please e-mail me so I can add it
to the list of what's happening.
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Lactation
Accommodation Law |
Jury Duty and Breastfeeding
|
Breastfeeding
in Public
More on Breastfeeding
Legislation.
If you have
any questions or need legal assistance in breastfeeding, please contact
General Counsel of The Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles -
Alexis Neely, Esq.
