The Pennsylvania State House of Representatives last Wednesday approved an amendment that would provide for a jury duty exemption for breastfeeding mothers. The amended bill now faces final consideration in the House.

State Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bucks, introduced the amendment to a bill which would allow for voluntary exemption from jury duty any Pennsylvanian who is 75 or older.According to Davis, her amendment would allow a breastfeeding mother to provide a certified letter from her physician to the courts stating that she is breastfeeding. "The courts then may defer the woman's jury duty for a year and extend it for an additional year, if warranted," Davis said.I agree with the spirit of Davis' amendment, but I disagree with the requirement that the woman has to get a certified letter from a physician. Why can't she just let the courts know she is breastfeeding her child, and that's that?Rep. David Parker, R-Monroe, agrees. He asks why this extra burden must be added to nursing mothers when many counties in the commonwealth merely require a call to the courts requesting the exemption.Parker, who lives in Stroud Township, and his wife are the parents of five children. Parker said his wife is a breastfeeding mother, and during the 14 years they have been married she was called for jury duty while breastfeeding. "All she needed to do was notify the courthouse (in Stroudsburg), and she was excused," Parker said."It's ridiculous to ask mothers of newborns to take their perfectly healthy babies to a doctor's office to get a certified letter," Parker said.I couldn't agree more.Davis, the sponsor of the bill, is on the right track with the major intent of the bill. She said the civic responsibilities of jury duty should not be compromised by the biological demands of breastfeeding. Davis says it is not reasonable to require a mother to be away from her child for unknown periods during breastfeeding. "Fifteen states enable moms to be excused from jury duty during this time, and Pennsylvania should join their ranks," Davis said.There has been an ongoing debate in the United States over the propriety of breastfeeding in public. In many South American, African and European nations, there is little of this outrage, because in countries on these continents, breastfeeding is seen as a preferred, healthier and less costly alternative to baby formula.In the U.S., breastfeeding women are sometimes met with outright hostility from the society that should be supporting their choice to breastfeed.According to researchers, much of the hostile rejection of a natural, extraordinarily nutritious act appears to stem from the perception of a woman's breast as a sexual object, even though it serves an entirely different purpose while she is nursing.Others have suggested that hostility to public breastfeeding stems from a view that it is unprofessional for a woman, especially an employed woman, to breastfeed her child and continue to maintain a professional presence.There are some who contend that a breastfeeding woman is merely seeking attention or participating in a form of exhibitionism because breastfeeding is thought of as an embarrassing, unnecessary and disgusting act.Most people are not aware that there is a public breastfeeding act that was passed by both houses of the Pennsylvania Legislature, signed by former Gov. Ed Rendell and went into law in July 2007.The key provision of this bill, which is still on the books, but, which, unfortunately, has no enforcement mechanism, states: "A mother shall be permitted to breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present, irrespective of whether or not the mother's breast is covered during or incidental to the breastfeeding."It is hoped that the full House will consider stripping out the portion of Davis' bill that requires a doctor's permission slip before a nursing mother is excused from jury duty.BRUCE FRASSINELLI |

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