She was kicked out of court because she was breastfeeding her child. It happened to a mother in Australia: the woman was feeding her baby while attending a trial in Melbourne county, when the judge addressed her directly: «Madam, you are not allowed to breastfeed a child in court. I am sorry. I’ll have to ask her to leave. It is, at the very least, a distraction for the jury».
According to Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act, pregnant and breastfeeding women must be protected in all sectors of public life, such as work, schools, universities, shops. However, it’s unclear whether these protections apply in court, the rules of which are often left to the judge’s discretion.
TO The Age, the woman said she was traumatized. “I felt totally humiliated and ashamed, like I was doing something wrong.” Before she entered, she had asked the security officer if it was possible to bring the child inside the courthouse. She felt humiliated for being publicly reprimanded in court because she was breastfeeding and expressed her disappointment that the judge described breastfeeding as a “distraction”. The mother explained that she would feel let down if she was scolded in a low voice by the court staff, but she was not humiliated.
“The difference between disappointment and humiliation is quite significant,” he said. “I wish no other woman would ever be spoken to like this again. Breastfeeding is not something we do for ourselves. At this point, it’s not just me anymore. I’m just one of many women who have been led to believe that when they breastfeed, they are doing anything but feeding a baby.”
“No woman deserves to be shamed and humiliated for breastfeeding in public,” a spokeswoman for the state attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, said. Even the minister for early childhood, Ingrid Stitt, is disappointed: «In 2023, it’s amazing that such a thing happened. It’s really disappointing. The important message we want to give to women is that we support them and their right to be able to take care of their children, and if that means they have to breastfeed in a public building, then this it is something that is not only to be tolerated, but celebrated».
It was a “scary” accident, according to Nisha Khot, a Melbourne midwife interviewed by the Guardian: «We have tried so hard to overcome so many barriers for women to want to breastfeed, and for this to happen in a court of law is not acceptable at all. There have been breastfed babies in this country’s parliament and in other parliaments. I don’t think there is any public space where breastfeeding a child would be considered unacceptable». Plus, breastfeeding has long-term positive consequences for mother and child, so anything that interrupts it can affect their health.
Emily Creak, special counsel to the law firm Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, explains that there shouldn’t be any restrictions or limitations on when or where you breastfeed. “Asking a person to leave any place (including the court) because he is breastfeeding his baby is outdated and out of step with community expectations».
Parliament, mothers deputies can now breastfeed in the Chamber
Source: Vanity Fair

I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.