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The Springfield, Miss. City Council rewrote an indecency law in September 2015, after two Free the Nipple protests in August 2015, in which protestors showed up topless with only tape covering their nipples. This was legal under the previous law, but the new law makes it a crime to show the female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola. However, women in the adult entertainment business and women breastfeeding infants less than 1-year-old are exempt.
This law is viewed by many to disriminate based on gender and to criminalize breastfeeding and pumping.
On October 26, 2015, Free the Nipple and local residents, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit suing the city.
Deb Hipp of Courthouse News Service stated, “The plaintiffs claim the new law violates the First Amendment, due process, equal protection, and conflicts with state law: It treats women differently than men, subjects them to an inferior legal status and criminalizes breast-feeding in public.”
Laws that criminalize breastfeeding and pumping are a major barrier for breastfeeding mothers. In order to support mothers and help kids grow up to be a helthy weight, it is important to reduce social, environmental, political and criminal barriers.
Learn more about the lawsuit here.
By The Numbers
142
Percent
Expected rise in Latino cancer cases in coming years
