CHAPTER 121
HB 441 - FINAL VERSION
25march99.....0415h
1999 SESSION
HOUSE BILL 441
AN ACT relative to a mother's right to breast-feed.
SPONSORS: Rep. M. Fuller Clark, Rock 36; Rep. T. Reardon, Merr 23; Rep. Rabideau, Rock 16; Rep. Gile, Merr 16; Rep. Keans, Straf 16; Sen. Wheeler, Dist 21
COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law
This bill sets forth the right of a mother to breast-feed her child in public.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
25march99.....0415h
99-0770
01/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine
AN ACT relative to a mother's right to breast-feed.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
121:1 Findings.
I. The general court finds that breast-feeding is the best method of infant nutrition. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children from birth to age one should be breast-fed, unless under particular circumstance as is medically inadvisable. WHO and UNICEF have established as one of their goals for the decade the encouragement of breast-feeding.
II. The general court finds that medical research shows that human milk and breast-feeding of infants provide many health benefits for a child such as lower rates of death including sudden infant death (SIDS) and decreased incidence and/or severity of diarrhea, respiratory illness, bacterial and viral infections including meningitis, ear infections, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal infections and chronic digestive diseases, childhood leukemia and other cancers, diabetes, allergies, obesity, and developmental delays. Breast-feeding also provides significant benefits to the health of the mother, including a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers, postpartum bleeding, osteoporosis and hip fractures in the postmenopausal period, an earlier return to pre-pregnant weight, delayed resumption of ovulation with increased child spacing, and the psychological benefit of an enhanced emotional relationship or bonding between mother and child.
III. The general court further finds that in addition to the health benefits for mother and child, breast-feeding provides significant social and economic benefits to the state, including reduced health care costs and reduced absenteeism for care attributable to child illness.
IV. Therefore, the general court finds that breast-feeding a baby is an important and basic act of nurture that must be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health and family values.
121:2 New Section; Breast-feeding. Amend RSA 132 by inserting after section 10-c the following new section:
132:10-d Breast-feeding. Breast-feeding a child does not constitute an act of indecent exposure and to restrict or limit the right of a mother to breast-feed her child is discriminatory.
121:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
(Approved: June 10, 1999)
(Effective Date: August 9, 1999)