Topeka ? Lots of children received pens Friday in the Statehouse.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius held a ceremonial bill signing of a law that asserts a woman’s right to breast-feed in public.

To write her name, Sebelius used numerous pens, then gave them to the children at the event, including Amy Swan’s daughter Maya, who was essentially the impetus for the new law.

Amy Swan, of Lawrence, got the legislation rolling after she was chastised in 2003 for nursing then 6-month-old Maya in a health club.

“As I was leaving the club in tears,” Swan said, “I never dreamed anything like this legislation would happen.”

She said the law “was urgently needed, not only to prevent humiliation of nursing mothers in Kansas, but also to promote the best possible nutrition and health of their babies.”

The legislation was introduced during the 2005 session, but it didn’t gain approval until this session. Sebelius officially signed the bill into law March 6.