Breastfeeding Mothers Stage 'Nurse-In' At Mall

[matcom]

:popcorn:

<snip>

WYOMISSING, Pa. -- Hundreds turned out Saturday at a Pennsylvania mall. They were not there to shop, but to support a mother ordered by security to stop breastfeeding in public at the Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing.

The crowd gathered to support Leigh Bellini, who was asked by mall security last Saturday to go to a bathroom or her car while she breastfed her 6-month-old son, Enzo.

On Saturday, dozens of mothers staged a "nurse-in." Nearly 50 women breast-fed their children in the mall's center court. The women said they should be able to feed their children wherever they want.

Bellini said in the past she's received stares and some rude looks, but never before had she gotten into a confrontation over breastfeeding.

"I thought it was the most natural thing in the world. I can't imagine that somebody would complain," said Bellini.

But someone did complain when Bellini fed her baby at the mall. Bellini said she stopped to feed her son after a day of shopping with her family. She said that she found a bench under a tree and put her stroller in front of her when security approached, and asked her to cover her son with a blanket.

"Nobody could see anything. There wasn't one (part) of my breast showing," said Bellini.

Her husband, Tony, said the situation got ugly when police suggested that she feed their son in a public restroom or the car, which they refused to do.

"They threatened to call the police on us, or have us physically removed by the police department," he said.

http://www.wftv.com/family/11102907/detail.html

[mainegreen]

1. I can't imagine the police would remove them.

That would be immensely stupid of the department. They do care somewhat about public perception, and hauling off soccer moms to jail for breastfeeding seems like a surefire way to get yourself on a temporary unpaid leave and to get all the local papers all over the departments ass. I'm sure the chief would *not* like that.

Almost every state in the country has a law allowing women to breastfeed in public, but not Pennsylvania. Currently, there is legislation being introduced in Harrisburg, Pa., to protect the rights of women who want to publicly breastfeed.

Women do have the right to breastfeed everywhere legally. These laws merely enunciate this right, not grant it. Even though PA has no such law, that does not legally affect a mother's right to breastfeed.

Dumb tight ass mall security guards.