We hope you will take a moment to help working families stay healthy by supporting breastfeeding mothers in the workplace! We know that breastfeeding is good for mothers, babies, and society:
Studies show that infants who are not breastfed are more likely to be hospitalized for respiratory infections and diarrhea. Breastfeeding protects children from the debilitating diseases of asthma and childhood obesity, potentially decreases the risk of SIDS, and protects mothers from developing breast and ovarian cancer. Breastfeeding has significant economic and environmental benefits for families and society by improving maternal and child health and decreasing or eliminating the need to purchase expensive formula.
Encouraging breastfeeding also benefits employers. Breastfed infants are healthier and therefore parents with breastfed infants have an almost three-fold reduction in absenteeism to care for sick infants. Given all of these benefits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the DHHS Office on Women’s Health recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for six months, and continue to breastfeed for the first year of life and as long afterwards as mutually desired by the mother and infant.
Interest in breastfeeding is at an all-time high—77% of women breastfeed their infants at birth. But breastfeeding rates drop rapidly after hospital discharge. Only 40% of all U.S. infants, including only 20% of African-American infants, are breastfeeding at six months of age.
More than 50% of women with infants less than one year old are in the labor force. Employed mothers are more likely to stop breastfeeding early if they do not receive the support they need in the workplace.
**Tell your Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 2236: the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007!
Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands already have enacted various laws protecting breastfeeding mothers, but they are not uniform and most are not comprehensive. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask your Congressperson to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007 to provide a unified national policy to keep mothers, their children and their communities healthy.
The Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007 includes four provisions:
- Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
- Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace.
- Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective.
- Allows breastfeeding equipment and lactation services to be tax deductible for families.
Read the text of the bill here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/
And there’s yet another way YOU can make a difference on the national level: We really need your support to strengthen our work to improve the health of mothers and babies in the United States. Please consider becoming a Friend of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) by making a donation today. (Easier to contribute small amounts on an ongoing basis? You can use the donation form to set up automatic recurring donations! Pledge your support by the week, month, or quarter!)
Your support will enable the continuation and expansion of USBC programs such as:
- The National Conference of State/Territory Breastfeeding Coalitions
- The NEW State Coalitions Mini-Grant Program
- The Coalitions Electronic Forum
- National advocacy actions like this one!
Working together, we are making great strides at the state level, and we know we can do it at the national level too! With a few clicks of the mouse today, you can help build critical support for a groundbreaking bill to protect, promote and support breastfeeding in the United States.
Take a moment to forward this email to friends and family. The more constituents that Congress hears from, the faster they'll realize that something must be done now.
Thank you!
