Protecting Breastfeeding by Law
50 State Summary of Breastfeeding Laws
(Updated February 2009)

• Forty-one states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have laws with language specifically allowing women to breastfeed in any public or private location.
  Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming

• Twenty-seven states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws.
  Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming

• Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have laws related to breastfeeding in the workplace.
  California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming

• Eleven states and Puerto Rico exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty.
  California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Virginia

• Five states and Puerto Rico have implemented or encouraged the development of a breastfeeding awareness education campaign.
  California, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Vermont

Editorial provided by Jennifer Mossholder, a labor and birth doula and a childbirth educator whose doula service, Before, During & After Doula Services, helps families in Eastern Pennsylvania and Central and Southern New Jersey.