Donnicia Venters, a mom from Houston, TX, lost her job in 2009 simply for following medical advice to breastfeed her infant.  When Donnicia told her boss about her pregnancy, he assured her that her position would still be available for her after she returned from her short maternity leave. But once Donnicia informed her boss that she was breastfeeding her new baby and would need a place to pump milk while at work, he suddenly changed his mind and fired her. [1]

And yesterday, a Houston judge ruled that her firing was not a case of gender discrimination because "...lactation is not a pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition".[2]

Well, that's news to us!

How would passing the Breastfeeding Promotion Act help moms like Donnicia?

The Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2011 (HR 2758) would help make breastfeeding more accessible to new mothers in the workforce by ensuring that all mothers who want to breastfeed can have unpaid time and private, clean spaces to express milk at work. If passed, the bill would also protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.[3]

While we are making progress in supporting nursing mothers, we're not moving fast enough.  Thanks to new protections included in the Affordable Care Act (health care reform), Donnicia’s employer would have been required to provide unpaid break time and a clean space for pumping if she had had her baby today.

However, these new rules in the Affordable Care Act only cover "non-exempt" workers (generally those paid hourly wages), rather than those who have salaried positions.[4] As a result, approximately half of new mothers in the workforce are unprotected, which is why we need Congress to pass the Breastfeeding Promotion Act.[5]

Approximately 56% of new mothers in our country are now in the paid labor force and Donnicia's case is a clear example of why we need uniform workplace policies to provide all mothers with the option to continue to breastfeed their babies.[6]

Many working mothers who choose to breastfeed their babies, as is recommended by doctors, report that they had to stop because it was not possible to pump breast milk while at work. While 3 out of 4 women in the U.S. breastfeed their infants at birth, only 13% are exclusively breastfeeding at six months as recommended by every major national and international medical authority.[7]  In fact, breastfeeding rates for employed mothers are 15% lower than among non-employed mothers.[8]Women who want to and can breastfeed deserve support for doing what doctors recommend.  And we all have a stake in supporting new mothers who wish to breastfeed. Nationally, we could save $2.2 billion per year in health care costs if 90% of women breastfed their infants exclusively for at least the first six months as pediatricians recommend.[9]  Individual employers who have actively supported workplace lactation programs have saved money through lower health care costs and reduced absenteeism.[10]