Lawmakers will consider a bill today that would exempt nursing mothers from indecent exposure laws.
House Bill 2376 is scheduled to be heard in a government-reform committee at 1:30 p.m.
"We are hoping to have record numbers of people voice their stance on the bill," said Amy Milliron, one of several mothers working with legislators on the bill.
The bill would add an exemption to the state's indecent exposure statute.
It is currently illegal for a woman to expose her areola or nipple if she is reckless about whether another person finds the act offensive or alarming.
The bill would allow mothers to breastfeed in any place that is open to the public, Milliron said.
Bill sponsor Rep. John Paton, R-Tucson, said he has never received so much support for anything he has sponsored.
"When it comes to something like breastfeeding, which helps create a bond between a mother and child, we have the ability to create a freedom to do that with this bill," Paton said. "That's why I sponsored it."
Milliron said she and other mothers encountered nothing but support while talking to citizens and businesses.
Paton said he has not seen anyone come out and oppose this bill.
Both said they hope the committee members will vote to pass the bill.
Milliron said an experience she had in June while she was nursing her baby at a Chandler city pool led her to push for this legislation.
A lifeguard approached her and said the pool's policy is to encourage mothers to use the restroom to nurse their babies, she said.
She said she told him that it was "the most natural thing in the world," and that she nurses her babies everywhere.
"He told me, 'You may be comfortable with that, but other people find it offensive,'" she said.
It was the first time she had been approached for breastfeeding in public, she said.
"Never in a million years would I have thought that anybody would feel they have the right to come up and tell me I would need to move or stop," she said.
In August, Milliron and other mothers asked the Chandler City Council for an ordinance that would protect nursing mothers.
On Oct. 27, the Council unanimously approved an ordinance that allows a mother to nurse her child in any public or private location where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be.
Chandler also voted to send a resolution to the state supporting changes to Arizona breastfeeding laws.
About two weeks later, the Tempe City Council also unanimously passed a similar law.
Now, the mothers hope to see changes at the state level, Milliron said.
"Our hope is that our children will have the protection they deserve if their families choose to breastfeed in the future," she added.
Reach the reporter at laura.graham@asu.edu.
Reach the reporter at laura.graham@asu.edu.
