Legislating Sensitivity
by Kate Kahn - 06th March 2008
There was an editorial in the Boston Herald that's simply too good to pass up so I’m cutting and pasting it here for you to see. On Tuesday, I blogged about the Massachusetts legislature's attempt once again to consider a bill that would allow women to breastfeed in public. However you feel on the subject, The Herald's point of view certainly provides another perspective! (Bear in mind, this ran Tuesday, the day the bill was introduced) Here it is. Enjoy!
Pols don’t have all the answers
Rest easy, nursing mothers. The Massachusetts Legislature has your . . . well, let’s just say lawmakers have your backs.
Bowing to a minority of activist nursing mothers, House lawmakers are poised to act today on a bill that grants legal sanction to an action that is entirely legal.
What an industrious use of an infrequent formal session.
The bill would exempt breast-feeding in public from the “crimes against chastity, morality, decency and good order” currently growing mold on the state’s books. The Senate has already approved a similar measure.
So even if you weren’t one bit worried about being hauled off in shackles for discreetly nursing a child somewhere public (something no one can recall ever happening), well, the Legislature still has an answer for you!
Yes, it is true that some nursing mothers have been confronted by nitwit store managers asking them to breast-feed their babies privately - or even asked them to leave. And that’s a problem. But certainly not one that leads to “imprisoning” mothers in their own homes, as one member of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition suggested. And not one that needs legislative attention.
Will this bill hurt anyone if it becomes law? Of course not. But at some point we ought to break from the tradition of rushing to Beacon Hill for a legislative solution to every societal ill. In this case, the breast-feeding crusaders want to legislate sensitivity.
Lawmakers should muster the political courage to turn down a special pleading when there is simply no cause for it. The House can start today.
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