Tell Congress to Pass the PUMP Act for Breastfeeding Moms

From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):

Cramped airplane bathrooms. Steamy hot cars. Filthy utility closets. These are just some of the places that breastfeeding moms have had to pump breastmilk because they didn’t have access to anything better. It doesn’t have to be this way and the good news is Congress is set to take action!

Tell your member of Congress to vote yes on the PUMP Act in support of working moms who don’t have adequate spaces to pump and store breastmilk at https://action.momsrising.org/sign/PUMPAct2021.

Right now 60% of moms find themselves pumping in less than ideal places (like in a coat check closet?!?!). [1]  It shouldn’t have to be that way and working together we can help change it!

The time is now! This week, Congress is taking up the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act. The PUMP Act would strengthen workplace protections for lactating workers. We need to take lactating parents out of the bathroom stalls, inside from the cars, and into the pumping rooms they deserve.

Right now many parents plan to breastfeed or chestfeed but hit seemingly insurmountable hurdles when they go back to work.  Returning to the workplace in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional challenge.  Sadly, returning to work is too often a significant barrier to breastfeeding. [2]

The simple truth is that not everyone has the time or place to pump. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), parents who work an hourly job and some salaried workers must be provided with a reasonable break time to express milk up to one year after birth and a place, other than a bathroom, where they can pump. [3]

→ Click here and urge Congress to pass the PUMP Act ensuring that all working parents have adequate spaces to pump and store breastmilk!

Parents from across the country have been sharing photos and stories of the places they’ve pumped on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook via our #IPumpedHere campaign.

MomsRising Member LeeAnn from New York shared, “The many humiliating places I had to nurse/pump: behind an empty counter at an airline gate; behind a display at a museum in Chicago; public bathrooms; conference rooms (where I was walked in on several times despite privacy signs); and empty classrooms’

LeAnn deserves better! Breastfeeding and chestfeeding parents across the country deserve better!

→ Add your name now so we can make sure your voice is heard too, and be sure to share the link below with your friends and family so they can also take action.

Together we can bring parents out of the bathroom stalls and into the pumping rooms they deserve!

P.S. Be sure to check out IPumpedHere.org to see our hilarious videos, find out more information about your pumping rights, and see even more pictures from moms across the country. Add your own pics by using the hashtag #IPumpedHere and sharing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

References:

[1] Univ. of Minnesota Academic Health Center National Study
[2] Surgeon’s General Call to Action on Breastfeeding
[3] Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA