A Big Difference Between Public Nursing and Public Nudity

Time to test your breast-feeding proficiency. Never done it before? No problem, experience is not necessary--but a little empathy helps. Here’s the first question:

A breast-feeding mother is shopping in a mall when her baby begins to cry. The child is hungry. The mother is 40 minutes from home and hasn’t finished her shopping. What does she do?

A. Let her hungry baby cry while she continues to shop. B. Drive back home, feed the baby, then return to the mall. C. Take her shirt off--exposing her breasts--and breast-feed her baby in the mall. D. Remain fully clothed and, discreetly, breast-feed her baby in the mall.

If you chose D, you are practically a breast-feeding pundit. If you chose A, B or C, don’t worry, it really can be a tricky topic--just ask the state Legislature.

In March the Assembly Committee on Judiciary voted down a bill that would have guaranteed a woman’s right to breast-feed in public. There are no laws banning breast-feeding, but women throughout the nation have been asked to leave malls, restaurants and other places for one simple reason: They fed a hungry child in public.

On Wednesday a group of women held a nurse-in at the Capitol, hoping to convince lawmakers of the need for such a law.

Under a Florida law, women can breast-feed in public without the fear of being arrested for lewdness, and last year a bill was passed in New York that makes it a violation of the state’s civil rights law to bar a woman from breast-feeding in public.

Republican Assemblyman Bill Morrow of Oceanside voted against the measure because “under this bill you could have a situation where a woman could take her shirt off entirely.”

Now, public nudity is not to be taken lightly, society simply cannot tolerate people ripping off their clothes in public any time they wish. And California is indeed indebted to those who protect us from such wanton displays. But exhibitionists are one thing, and breast-feeding mothers are quite another.

Breasts have been around for a long time, and so have hungry babies. Thus society has had ample opportunity to observe what happens when the two come together.

Research has already shown what happens in the bodies of breast-feeding women and babies--it improves the health of both. There is no research, however, to support the notion that breast-feeding women are prone to displays of public nudity.

In fact, all empirical evidence suggests that most breast-feeding mothers do so without ever taking off their tops or exposing themselves to the world.

“You see a lot more of a breast in a bikini than you ever would of a mother who’s nursing discreetly,” said Shawn Crane of Tarzana, who is currently nursing her 20-month-old son. “It is possible to nurse without exposing the breast at all, there’s no reason you have to expose any part of your body.”

Like other nursing mothers, Crane has breast-fed her son in a number of public places, depending on where they happen to be when he gets hungry. She has never been asked to leave and usually people don’t know what she’s doing. Or if they do, they don’t care.

Miriam MacLeod) of Simi Valley has nursed her baby, Jennifer, in a mall restroom, in the dressing rooms of clothing stores and once in a restaurant.

While she was breast-feeding at the restaurant, the waiter very casually approached the table and took MacLeod’s order.

“He had no idea what I was doing,” she said. “At a glance it appears she’s just snuggled up and I’m just cuddling her.”

So how do women breast-feed without being noticed?

It’s pretty simple. Many breast-feeding mothers prefer two-piece outfits, loose blouses and skirts or pants. “I can lift my shirt from the waist up, therefore my breasts remain totally covered,” Crane said.

The blouse falls around the face of the infant and the child drinks undisturbed. A woman can also drape a light blanket over her shoulder, covering herself and her infant. And then there are maternity clothes with vertical slits that allow for easy access to the breast.

“You’d have to be sitting and staring right at that person to know that they’re nursing,” said April Ragland, a nursing mother.

A group of nursing mothers met in West Hills on Wednesday for their monthly gathering. The purpose of the group, a branch of La Leche League, is to help educate and support women who breast-feed.

“We discuss what clothes to wear,” said Susan Siskin, a group leader who lives in Chatsworth. “We always recommend that new mothers practice in front of a mirror so they can learn to do it discreetly.”

Some of them recounted experiences that the bill is meant to prevent.

Once when Siskin was nursing her first child in the all-women’s section of her gym, a woman became irate and threatened to call the manager.

Another time a mother who was breast-feeding her 2-month-old was asked to leave the waiting room of a veterinarian’s office.

“She called me up in tears,” Siskin said. “She said, is this going to happen to me all the time?” The overwhelming majority of women probably wouldn’t take their shirts off if this law is passed. Maybe a very few would, but this number would be minuscule compared to the women who might benefit from it.

So, here’s another question: Do the lawmakers punish the many for the possible sins of the few? Or do they create common-sense laws that will benefit many?

You really don’t have to be an expert to figure that one out.

* BILL DIES: Panel blocks legislation that would grant women explicit right to nurse in public. A3