Chair’s column
I am happy to report my first victory as a breastfeeding advocate or “lactivist”— the bill I helped draft in February 2015 made its way to Governor Rauner’s desk. On August 2, 2015, the Lactation Accommodation in Airports Act, 410 ILCS 140/1 et seq., was signed into law by Governor Rauner. This would not have happened without the support of a coalition of attorney moms, the Standing Committee on Women and the Law, Katrina Pavlik and Breastfeed Chicago, Sara Hall Master, Megan Renner and the United States Breastfeeding Committee, and countless others who took the time to contact their legislators and the City of Chicago Department of Aviation by phone, Twitter, the change.org petition, and email.
This breastfeeding legislation requires large Illinois airports to provide lactation rooms in each terminal by January 1, 2017. Smaller Illinois airports will be required to add lactation rooms when building new terminals or renovating existing ones. This Act does not change the current Illinois law which allows mothers to breastfeed their babies in public. Rather, it provides nursing mothers with the option of utilizing a private place to pump breast milk or nurse their baby in the airport (which includes a chair and an electrical outlet outside the confines of a public restroom).
On Friday, July 31, 2015, the Chicago City Council Finance Committee held a hearing on a similar ordinance which would require City airports to have lactation rooms by January 2016. The Finance Committee voted in favor of the proposed ordinance and it is anticipated that the proposed will head to the full City Council for a vote in September 2015. At the July 31st hearing, the city’s aviation commissioner said O’Hare recently opened a Mother’s Room in the Terminal 3 Rotunda, next to the Yoga Room and Urban Garden. Midway airport currently has one lactation room.
There is still work to be done in terms of having lactation rooms in airports nationwide and in other public places. U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois introduced federal legislation to require large and medium airports nationwide to provide lactation rooms. Although H.R. 2530- Friendly Airports for Mothers Act of 2015 has bipartisan support, it has not moved out of the Subcommittee on Aviation.
See, Friendly Airports for Mothers (FAM) Act of 2015, <https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2530/>.
See, Making airports nursing friendly: Senate Bill 0344 —“Lactation Accommodation in Airports Act” <http://www.isba.org/committees/diversityleadershipcouncil/newsletter/2015/06/makingairportsnursingfriendlysena>.