yay! Success!

Chandler rescinds policy on breast feeding on city property

The Chandler City Council has voted unanimously to scrap a controversial breast-feeding directive which could have subjected nursing mothers to criminal charges.

Though the council made no objections to the directive when it was released on Monday by city Community Services Director Mark Eynatten, city officials in the southeast Phoenix suburb said the public outcry that ensued couldn't be ignored.

On Thursday night the council answered the pleas of about 40 mothers who filled council chambers by axing the directive and instead opting to form a committee to study the issue.

"I believe that public breast-feeding should not be regulated," Chandler resident Lisa Munson Crews said. "No city, state, county or federal employee should have any say in a breast-feeding matter."

Under the directive, mothers who breast fed on city property would have to go to a private spot or leave if someone complains, possibly facing criminal trespassing charges if they refused.

The issue came to light after Amy Milliron, a nursing mother from Tempe, another suburb east of Phoenix, was asked to leave a city pool picnic area this summer.

Eynatten said he knows of no other Phoenix area city that regulates public breast-feeding.

Two council members, Donna Wallace and Phill Westbrooks, said they hope the angst will lead to Arizona legislation similar to laws in other states that make breast-feeding a right and exempts nursing mothers from indecent exposure penalties.