BreastfeedMerced
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BREASTFEEDING RIGHTS
California has some of the strongest laws and regulations in the nation to support breastfeeding women in hospitals, in schools, in the workplace and in the community. The links below provide the text of California state laws and regulations that pertain to breastfeeding and information about what action to take if the laws are not being followed.
Breastfeeding laws in California that protect and promote breastfeeding in the following places:
HOSPITAL
Laws that Require Hospitals to Support, Promote and Protect Breastfeeding
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Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in Hospitals, 2013, Senate Bill 402, De Leon, Health and Safety Code 123367
Requires all general acute care hospitals and special hospitals with perinatal units to adopt, by January 1, 2025, The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding or an alternate process adopted by a health care service plan that includes evidenced-based policies and practices and targeted outcomes, or the Model Hospital Policy Recommendations.
Note: Adopting the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding does not automatically give a hospital a formal Baby Friendly designation. This code does not require hospitals to become formally accredited as a Baby-Friendly Hospital.
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Hospital Infant Feeding Act, 2011, Senate Bill 502, Pavley, De Leon, Health and Safety Code 123366
This bill requires all general acute care hospitals and special hospitals with perinatal units to have a hospital infant-feeding policy which promotes breastfeeding. Hospitals are required to clearly post their infant-feeding policy and to routinely communicate the infant-feeding policy to all perinatal unit staff. Having a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff is the first step in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, adopted by Baby-Friendly USA. The infant-feeding policy may include guidance on formula supplementation or bottle feeding, if preferred by the mother or when exclusive breastfeeding is contraindicated.
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Breastfeeding Education and Support, 2007, Senate Bill 22, Migden, Health and Safety Code Section 1257.9
Requires the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to promote breastfeeding. It also specifies that CDPH shall develop a training course of hospital policies and recommendations that promote exclusive breastfeeding and lists appropriate staff for training. The training is targeted at hospitals with exclusive breastfeeding rates ranked in the lowest 25 percent of the state.
(Also see Breastfeeding Education and Support, 2007, under Community)
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Human Milk in Hospitals, 2006, Senate Bill 246, Figueroa, Health and Safety Code 1648
Allows mothers to refrigerate or freeze breast milk in a hospital, if the milk is specifically for their hospitalized child. No screening of the milk is necessary; however, hospitals need to comply with the current standards established for the collection, processing, storage, or distribution of human milk set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
This code does not apply to hospitals that collect, processes, stores or distributes milk from human milk banks or other outside sources.
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Breastfeeding Consultant or Information, 1995, Assembly Bill 977, McDonald, Health and Safety Code 123365
Requires all hospitals with maternity wards to provide new mothers with either a breastfeeding consultant or information on where to obtain breastfeeding information. A consultant may be a registered nurse with maternal and newborn care experience. The mother may decline the consult / referral.
WORKPLACE AND SCHOOL
Both Federal and State laws protect a pregnant or parenting student’s (PPS) right to an equal education.
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Existing federal law requires an educational institution to treat pregnancy, childbirth, recovery from childbirth, and other specified conditions in the same manner and under the same policies as any other temporary disability. Existing law also prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, or other specified characteristics in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive state financial aid.
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CONTACT YOUR LOCAL BREASTFEEDING COALITION FOR FURTHER HELP AND ADVICE.
COMMUNITY
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Breastfeeding State Laws
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Cal. Civil Code § 43.3 (1997) allows a mother to breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present. (AB 157)
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure § 210.5 (2000) requires the Judicial Court to adopt a standardized jury summons for use, which must include a specific reference to the rules for breastfeeding mothers. 2000 Cal. Stats., Chap. 266 (AB 1814) created the law and directs the Judicial Council to adopt a rule of court to allow the mother of a breastfed child to postpone jury duty for a period of up to one year and that after one year, jury duty may be further postponed upon written request by the mother. See California Rules of Court, Trial Court Rules, Rule 2.1006.
Cal. Government Code § 12926 states it is unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory practices in employment or housing accommodations on the basis of sex. The law provides that, for purposes of the act, the term sex also includes breastfeeding or medical conditions related to breastfeeding. (2012 Cal. Stats., Chap. 701; AB 2386)
Your Rights at Work as a New Parent
https://legalaidatwork.org/our-programs/work-and-family-program/
Did you know that you are protected by federal law as a pregnant and/or parenting student?
Title IX
Forbids most colleges and universities from discriminating against a student, postdoc, or employee because they are (or were) pregnant
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Requires institutions to provide leave for (at least) as long as a student’s doctor says it is medically necessary for pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, or related conditions, including recovery
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Requires your school to readmit students after medical absences related to pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth in the same status she held when she left (no penalty for leave)
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Requires schools to provide pregnant students with the same types of special services that are provided to students with other temporary medical condition
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Requires a complaint process for addressing potential violations of Title IX
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Please visit The Pregnant Scholar to find out more ways you are protected
Lactation Accommodation Laws
Both Federal and California laws protect your right to accommodations in the workplace for breastfeeding.