Open Letter to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt
To Secretary Leavitt:
Recent commercials produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accuse women who don't breastfeed their newborns exclusively for six months of irresponsible parenting.
The harsh commercials ignore the real barriers for women who want to breastfeed.
Equating a woman's decision not to breastfeed with log-rolling or mechanical bull riding while pregnant insults the millions of women who are physically unable to breastfeed, are advised not to breastfeed due to illness medical treatment, or are unable to breastfeed for six months because of inadequate workplace accommodations.
The National Organization for Women wants all women to have the opportunity to breastfeed their babies. According to medical experts and public health officials, the nutrients in breastmilk provide infants with antibodies that help protect them against infection and potentially against chronic diseases. Yet, according to a 2003 Center for Disease Control study, 86 percent of mothers do not breastfeed exclusively for six months, and these barriers are part of the reason.
The HHS advertisements ought to address some of the real barriers created by employers and institutions that contribute to the low breast-feeding rates. According to the Families and Work Institute, more than 60 percent of mothers of very young children are employed, yet only one-third of mega-corporations provide a safe and private location for women to pump breastmilk for their babies. In the United States, only half of employers are obligated to give 12 weeks of family leave -- and that's without any pay.
Women need support so that they can incorporate breastfeeding into their lives as workers and mothers, not commercials painting them as irresponsible.
To increase the number of women breastfeeding, and the length of time they breastfeed, HHS should take or advocate for the following policies:
- Extend to one year from the present six months after childbirth the period that women can receive nutritional supplements under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Breastfeeding women require an additional 1,000 calories per day and the cut-off of supplement assistance at six months for eligible low-income women makes no sense.
- Issue federal guidelines to employers outlining best practices to accommodate breastfeeding mothers, including sufficient time off work each day without penalty. This action would have very little cost to government and a low-cost to employers; it would be instructive to owners, managers and supervisors who may have little experience or knowledge of what proper policies might include.
- Recommend that employers establish a suitable area for mothers to breastfeed infants comfortably. Following an unfortunate incident in California where a woman using a breast pump was "apprehended" by police in a restroom, the California Assembly established a small room for this activity. The federal government could serve as a model for other employers to set up similar facilities.
- Advocate that Congress clarify in law that anyone in the act of breastfeeding or using a breast pump should not be subject to any indecent exposure laws. Breastfeeding mothers have been forced to leave shopping malls or other locations under such statutes or ordinances. A statement in federal law would prevent the misapplication of those laws to lactating mothers.
- Encourage the inclusion of professional lactation specialists' services in health care plans. Some plans currently use these professionals.
- Provide funding and programs so that low-income mothers or mothers receiving public assistance can have access to breast pumps. Infants can expect to be fed every two hours, so mothers seeking employment often need breast pumps just to attend job interviews. This could be managed like the infant seat loan programs that are offered in many communities.
- Amend welfare-to-work requirements to allow poor mothers to delay seeking employment until they have stopped breastfeeding. The benefits are obvious.
- Increase funding for federally-assisted child care centers and provide assistance to other workplace-based child care centers. Parents who use child care centers at their place of employment can more easily visit their infants throughout the day to breastfeed.
Thank you for considering these recommendations. I hope you will endeavor to increase the number of women who are able to breastfeed by making it more possible for them to do so, rather than guilt-tripping women who are doing their best.
Sincerely,
Kim Gandy
President
National Organization for Women
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(This was printed from http://www.now.org/issues/mothers/060718breastfeeding.html)