The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., was the scene of a gathering of about 100 parents and babies on Saturday, Feb. 12 as local “lactivists” acted to make the public aware of a mother’s legal right to breastfeed in public. 

It all started on Jan. 30 when Nori Aita of Rockville, Md., sat down on a bench at the Hirshhorn to breastfeed her daughter during a visit to the federally owned museum.  A security guard told her to move to the ladies’ room, but finding no place there to sit, Aita returned to the bench.  The guard continued to harass her, telling her to sit on a toilet in the restroom.  Aita tried another bench, but was soon confronted by another guard.  Aita and her family were finally forced to leave the museum. 

When she returned home, an Internet search quickly found the Right to Breastfeed Act, which guarantees a woman the right to breastfeed her child on federal property if she and her child are allowed to be there.  These provisions were incorporated into an appropriations bill and signed into law by President Clinton in 1999.  Also, there are many state laws that provide additional protections to nursing mothers, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to require an employer to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for one year after the child's birth.

The Hirshhorn, which displays international and modern contemporary art, apologized to Aita and her family, and quickly moved to retrain their security personnel.   But the organizers of the “nurse-in” said they wanted to support the benefits of breastfeeding and to educate the public to remove the stigma associated with nursing a baby in public.

In other news, the city council of Alexandria, Va., outside Washington, D.C., voted unanimously to amend their indecent exposure law to exclude breastfeeding.  They plan to follow up with a special proclamation later in the month, to educate the public about the public health benefits of breastfeeding and the rights of mothers to breastfeed in a family friendly community.