LJWorld.com

• Email
• iPod-friendly
• Print

Topeka — Breast-feeding mothers Monday asked lawmakers to remove a proposed requirement that they "discreetly" breast-feed. They said they don't want to be indiscreet but also don't want to get into an argument with someone about the interpretation of the word.

"I don't want to show any more of myself than what is necessary," said Julie Quinn of Fort Riley, a mother of five, including a nursing 1-month-old daughter.

Quinn, whose husband, Timothy Quinn, is an Army sergeant serving in Iraq, and others testified to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on a bill that would allow women to breast-feed in public.

When the bill was approved in the House, legislators added an amendment that said a woman "may breast-feed discreetly in any place she has a right to be."

But mothers said the term "discreetly" would be open to interpretation and could defeat the purpose of the bill, which is to encourage breast-feeding because it has health benefits for the mother and baby.

Committee Chairman Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, a physician, said he wanted the word "discreet" taken out of the bill.

"I trust women to know when they are being discreet," he said.

He said the committee would work on the bill more today.

The measure was prompted by an incident in Lawrence, where Amy Swan said she tried to breast-feed her baby at a health club and was asked by a male employee not to nurse.

Swan was at Monday's hearing but didn't testify.

Bill protects breast-feeding but discreet wording a problem (03-12-05) Breast-feeding bill advances, but changes unwelcome (2-24-05) Research, legislation back breast-feeding advocates (2-09-05) 6News video: Breast-feeding stats back Lawrence moms Got Kids? blog: The LAC Breastfeeding Debacle Part II (07-14-04)

However, several other mothers -- a doctor, a representative of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and a La Leche League volunteer -- testified in support of the bill and removal of the word "discreet."

Breast-fed babies are healthier, yet less than one-third of Kansas mothers breast-feed, officials said.

Dr. Brandan Kennedy, a pediatrician at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., said the more women who breast-feed the more it would become acceptable in public.

"Breasts are sexualized way too much. A breast's function is to feed children," he said.

Thirty-seven states have laws clarifying that public breast-feeding is legal. Only one -- Missouri -- has added that women be discreet.

Another House amendment that would excuse nursing mothers from jury duty prompted opposition. Kathy Porter, representing the Office of Judicial Administration, said judges feared this would be used as an excuse by people who weren't really breast-feeding to dodge jury duty.