I recently received a petition by e-mail to support passage of a proposed state law that would protect mothers who breast feed in public from being charged with indecent exposure. Is this really a pressing issue? I thought we had protective laws.
- A mom in Somerville
No Mass. law expressly protects breast feeding, putting the Commonwealth in the minority of states (only 14 others have no law that explicitly allows breastfeeding in public places) (you can see a state-by-state summary of breastfeeding laws here). As far as Bostonist can tell, however, no one has ever been prosecuted under Massachusetts' indecent exposure law for public breast feeding (this is the same law, by the way, that punishes "common night walkers" and "common railers or brawlers"). In fact, to be convicted of indecent exposure, one must not only expose oneself, but commit "an intentional act of lewd exposure, offensive to one or more persons." We doubt any court would find that a mother who nursed her child in public intended any lewdness.
Still, there's certainly nothing wrong with a law that clarifies what's allowed and what isn't, even where there's little risk of confusion. After all, we can't imagine why anyone would hire an albino person for the purpose of exhibiting him, but there is a law to prevent it, just in case.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
