Young Mother Awaiting Food Stamps Schools Police Sheriff On Her Breastfeeding Rights

Roll your eyes at the term “lactivist” if you have to, but the conflation of breastfeeding with stripping and exposing one’s self continues to plague even a new generation of mommies. The newest lady of indecency was 21-year-old Natalie Petrovic in Chicago who was seated in the Cook County courthouse. She may have thought that she was merely awaiting food-assistance benefits as she grabbed a coverup blanket to nurse her daughter, but according to Sheriff Tom Dart who instructed her to take her feeding to the public restroom, her behavior warranted legal intervention.

Natalie told the sheriff that she would absolutely not be moving from the lobby to the public restroom to feed her daughter, which she described as “unsanitary, uncomfortable and degrading.” Another female deputy reportedly told Natalie to take her lactation to the public restroom as well. The mother has since filed a middle-finger style lawsuit against her county and the sheriff, citing Illinois Right to Breastfeed Act passed in 2004, which entitles her to breastfeed wherever she needs to — courtesy coverup blanket or not.

The Huffington Post reports that the young mother has taken it upon herself to remind the state of this legislation:

”It got me really frustrated that this woman, she’s a sheriff’s [deputy] and she didn’t know what people’s rights are,” Petrovic told the station…”I need to take action,” said Petrovic. “For me, not only for me, for my daughter and for any woman who tries to breastfeed.”

Cook county can credit this young mommy with offering them the refresher course that they clearly need.

(photo: zazzle.com)