Mississippi Gov. Signs Bill Requiring Designated Places For Women Breast-Feeding At Child-Care Facilities

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) this week signed a bill (SB 2419) that requires child-care facilities to designate a suitable place for women to breast-feed their infants or use a breast pump, the AP/Biloxi Sun Herald reports. Under the law, the location -- which cannot be a bathroom stall -- must have a comfortable chair, an electrical outlet and access to running water. Day care centers also are required to provide a refrigerator for women to store their pumped milk and must train employees how to handle it correctly, the law says. In addition, the law says that breast-feeding in a public place cannot be considered indecent exposure or disorderly conduct. It also allows any woman who is nursing an infant younger than age one to be exempt from jury duty and requires employers to allow a woman to use her lunch break or other designated break times to pump milk. The law went into effect immediately after Barbour signed it (Wagster Pettus, AP/Biloxi Sun Herald, 4/5).


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