Throw Momma from the Plane

Emily Gillette was removed from a plane for breastfeeding her daughter on October 13th of this year. While awaiting takeoff, Gillete began to breastfeed her daughter (nursing during takeoffs and landings helps babies adjust to the altitude change). She was in a window seat with her husband between her and the aisle and no part of her breast was showing (not that it should matter). A flight attendant approached her, handing her a blanket and directing her to cover up. Gillette declined and informed the flight attendant that she was exercising her legal right to breastfeed. The flight attendant said, "You are offending me," and asked her to cover up again, and again Gillette declined. A few minutes later a ticket agent approached her and said her family was being removed from the flight.

What's even more reprehensible than the attitude and behavior of this flight attendant is the fact that the flight attendant is still employed by the airline and that representative for the airline said the following:

"A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way," that doesn't bother others, Skellon said. "She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that's all I know." (Source)

So if the guy on the plane next to me chews too loudly, can I have him removed from the flight because he is bothering me? I'm sure Mr. Skellon would enjoy eating his lunch with a blanket over his head. And nevermind the fact that by the time a baby is a few months old, he will most likely pull the blanket off his head anyway. I'm surprised someone didn't suggest that this poor woman try to feed her baby in the cramped airplane bathroom, after all, isn't that what bathrooms are for, feeding babies?

And who defines discreet? Her breast was not showing. Her husband was seated between her and the aisle. Do they ask other mothers to cover their baby's head if they are bottlefeeding? What's the problem here, the breast (that isn't showing), the eating baby, or the fact that the baby and the breast are touching? For some reason I don't think you find a breastfeeding mother "acceptable" if you are going to dictate how or when she must breastfeed.

I am beyond disgusted. If you are making flight arrangements in the near future, you may want to avoid Freedom Airlines/Mesa Air/Delta, especially if you often feel the need to spontaneously expose your breast in order to feed your hungry child.

ETA: I just wanted to provide a link for the laws in different states that protect a mother's right to breastfeed. Thirty-seven states have laws that specifically uphold a mother's right to breastfeed in any public location and nineteen states exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws. It's also important to remember that even if a particular state doesn't have a law on the books, that does not make it illegal to breastfeed in public. These laws merely protect and uphold a right that women already have, to feed their baby as they wish whenever and however they desire. No state prohibits women from breastfeeding in public. There is also no requirement in any of these state laws that breastfeeding be done "discreetly" or in any other particular manner.