Testimony before the NYC Council Committee on Women’s Issues on requiring lactation rooms in certain public spaces
SUMMARY
The Sex and Law Committee (Katharine Bodde, Chair) provided testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Women’s Issues on legislation which would require lactation rooms in certain public spaces. Although it supported the legislation as an important first step, the Committee offered two recommendations to strengthen the legislation: (1) to expand the public spaces enumerated in the legislation to include public schools so that breastfeeding students may be guaranteed access to adequate, sanitary accommodations when needing to express milk, and (2) to include language that would protect nursing mothers from being required to use such facilities when breastfeeding. If a nursing mother feels comfortable breastfeeding in a public space like a waiting room, then current New York law gives her the right to do so. The Committee recommended that City agencies should create materials making clear that passage of the legislation does not preclude women from choosing to breastfeed in an open public space in accordance with their rights.
BILL INFORMATION
Int. 1063-2016 – would require the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to ensure that every job center, SNAP center, Medicaid office of the Department of Social Services/Human Resources Center, as well as every borough office of the Administration for Children’s Services, and every health center, health clinic, or other health facility operated or maintained by the department, or any other agency which provides on-site services to members of the public make at least one lactation room available to the public.
