The Washington Monthly

June 7, 2005

LACTIVISM....Barbara Walters said a few weeks ago that "the sight of a woman breast-feeding on an airplane next to her had made her uncomfortable." Ann Althouse, who thinks she ought to get over it, says she supports laws that allow nursing mothers to breastfeed in public:

I know what it's like to need to breastfeed and be in a situation where there's nowhere private to go. One time, back in the early 80s, I breastfed my baby at the Baseball Hall of Fame. I remember feeling I was doing something really wrong and that I was about to be discovered at any point and treated harshly. So I like these laws. What are you supposed to do on a plane? You can't occupy the bathroom that long, and anyway, that would be a disgusting environment for a baby.

The most ironic part of all this isn't really Walters's comment — although that is ironic — it's the fact that most of the opposition to public breastfeeding comes from the family values crowd. I guess family values only go just so far with these folks.

—Kevin Drum 12:53 PM Permalink | Trackbacks

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