Our View

By:

Shandra Jordan

Colleen Buhrer

Kyle Endres

Patrick Crossland

Christopher J. Ortiz

The Coloradoan reported Thursday that a woman was asked by

Wal-Mart management to cover herself up or not to breast feed her

baby while waiting in the checkout lane. The store than received

complaints about the incident and the mother received national

attention. She is now going to testify in Denver on behalf of a

bill that would allow mothers to breast feed in public.

We support the right for a woman to breast feed her child but

with respect and common courtesy to the people around her. We don’t

feel Wal-Mart management was out of line in asking the woman to

either cover up or stop breast-feeding her child. We don’t think

breast-feeding is disgusting or dirty, but it is something that

should be done in private or with others in mind, such as covering

up with a blanket.

Right out of a Married With Children episode, the mother is

staging a “nurse-in” outside of the store. Give us a break. There

is a time and place for everything and a checkout lane is not the

right place to breast-feed. The mother could simply plan ahead and

prepare bottles of breast milk before heading out. And we recognize

the fact that mothers cannot always plan ahead, we don’t think it

is too much to ask to use the restrooms, a car or, at the very

least, a blanket.