Wichita ? Don’t mess with breast-feeding moms in Kansas.

That is the message of a new state law that protects a woman’s right to breast-feed her baby in public. Now state health officials and breast-feeding advocates are distributing 40,000 laminated cards saying that for breast-feeding mothers to carry with them.

It is all part of a public education campaign by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and La Leche League.

Modeled after other states with similar laws, the cards have printed in large letters on the front the essence of the law passed by the Legislature this year: “A mother may breast-feed in any place she has a right to be.”

On the back of the card are numbers to call for information on the law or for breast-feeding help. For breast-feeding women asked to leave a public place, there’s a number listed on the card for her to call to report it. State health officials then will send a letter to those businesses explaining the new law.

The cards will be distributed through hospitals, health departments and La Leche League chapters.