Only in Massachusetts...

There is new legislation being argued up at the state house in Massachusetts. It's a bill that would guarantee mothers the right to nurse in public locations, defer jury duty and prevent breastfeeding mothers from being labled as sex offenders by exempting breastfeeding from the state's indecency statutes.

Would someone please pinch me and tell me that I am in some sort of bizarre nightmare! Since when is feeding one's baby lewd or indecent? Have you seen some of the commercials airing during prime time television lately?

Up until now I thought the worst thing I had done as mother of five was having a few over due library books. Imagine the "shock and awe" I felt when I realized that I could have been arrested and forced to register as a sex offender for nursing my baby in a public place! Wow!

Shouldn't we as citizens be encouraging good parenting? Breast or bottle, if a sweet innocent baby is hungry, why would we want to make it more difficult for a mother to feed him or her? It's not about one's personal outrage at the quick glimpse of a bare breast (again, have you seen the covers on magazines in the check-out line at the supermarket?), it's about the baby. If we could just take a step back for a moment and think about what is best for children and families in general, I firmly believe that our world would be a much better place.