by Pauline M. Campos
April 18, 2008

When I see a forward in my email inbox, I usually just delete it without bothering to take a look. And if it is from a repeat offender, then it’s a guaranteed garbage bin item even before it was sent!

But when I get one sent to me by someone I know isn’t into sending me emails promising free gift cards to local restaurants if I send the message on to 50 friends, I can be persuaded to take a look.

And this time, I am really glad I did.

My friend Molly is one of many breastfeeding moms trying to garner support for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act (H.R. 3799), a bill that is currently stalled in Congress.

The hope is that raising the (breastfeeding) troops, so to speak, will get Congress to wake up, smell the breast milk, and pass this very important bill into law.

In your face!
Boobs are everywhere these days.

Just turn on the television and you’ll be bombarded with images of cleavage galore (Dr. 90210, anyone?), even on so-called “family-friendly” television shows.

Anyone remember Baywatch? (I know, I know.) I was young enough at the time that the show was in its heyday to allow the cheesy soap opera drama to cancel out the slow-motion bouncing-boobs-on-the-beach shots. And I am eternally embarrassed by this, as should be Pamela Anderson.

Don’t watch TV? That’s okay. You’ll see more than you share of boobage on the covers of magazines in line at the grocery store and on billboards as you drive to run errands.

And heaven forbid you allow MTV to be watched in your home. Reality shows and music videos are prime spots for plenty of sexually laden images to be displayed.

My point?

Society apparently has no problem with women baring their breasts, or at least everything but the nipple, when the image is young, perky, and downright sexy. But should a woman dare bare a breast in public with an infant attached to it, suddenly all hell breaks loose.

How many times have you been told about the benefits of breastfeeding by your doctor, your mother, or your best friend, or read about the benefits here on baby gooroo? We all know that no formula on the market can duplicate the natural wonders and benefits of breast milk. It is now common knowledge that breastfeeding can help protect children from a host of issues such as obesity and diabetes, and even help kids get a boost in their IQ scores; and moms get plenty of benefits, too!

Yeah, I know that you already know. But how many of you reading this know at least one person who stopped breastfeeding before she had planned to because of the societal pressure to cover up? Or what about the moms who work and have no place to pump?

If breast is best, why do women have to hide while providing their babies with nature’s wonder food? And how many more women, I wonder, would decide to breastfeed if they knew they would not be bound to their homes or forced to hide in a corner or a dirty bathroom stall until their child was weaned? How many might decide not to give up if they knew their employer would support their right to pump at work?

About the bill
Penned by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens), the Breastfeeding Promotion Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect breastfeeding moms by providing tax credits to employers who provide a place to breastfeed or the pumps themselves.

Eighty-two percent of women become mothers by the time they are 42 years old. And on the flipside, 25 percent of breastfeeding mothers throw in the towel by the time their child is 6 weeks old. Coincidentally (or not) that happens to be the length of time most women take for maternity leave before returning to work.

So what can we do?

I can’t believe I am doing this, but I’m about to tell you to forward information about the bill to all of your friends and to ask them to do the same.

And if you are so inclined, do as my friend Molly did, and forward the message to your friends. The bill might be stalled right now, but with enough public pressure, we can make our voices heard.

So what do you say, breastfeeding mothers of America? Are you ready to rise to the occasion?