Senate vote kills public nursing legislation
Topeka ? A bill giving women the right to breast-feed in public was killed Wednesday after several senators said private businesses should be allowed to prohibit breast-feeding on their premises.
“This is about private property rights,” said Sen. Kay O’Connor, R-Olathe.
O’Connor led a 20-14 vote to refer the proposal back to committee, a move the committee chairman and sponsor of the bill said killed the measure for the 2005 legislative session.
“We won’t have time to work the bill,” said Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, and chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee.
And Barnett said he wouldn’t support giving businesses the right to prohibit women from breast-feeding on their property.
“I believe allowing signage that says ‘No breast-feeding allowed’ becomes self-defeating. You become counterproductive to what you are trying to achieve,” he said.
The bill stated that it was the public policy of the state to encourage breast-feeding because of the health and nutritional benefits to infants. It also allowed mothers to breast-feed in any place they have a right to be. Thirty-two states have similar laws.
The impetus of the legislation came after a Lawrence woman was asked to stop breast-feeding her child while at a health club.
Mothers say they want ‘discreet’ out of breast-feeding bill (03-15-05)
