Breastfeeding Moms ‘Humiliated,' Asked To Leave Public Pool

MORA, MN — Humiliated. Ashamed. Embarrassed. Defeated. These words are usually reserved for people who’ve done something really, really bad. But for two Minnesota mothers, those words describe how they felt when they were repeatedly asked to leave a public pool. Their dastardly deed? Breastfeeding in the kiddie pool.

It was a nice day last Wednesday in Mora as temperatures reached the upper 70s. Stephanie Buchanan and Mary Davis, both mothers to young children, decided to take advantage of the sunny weather and took their kids to the Mora Aquatic Center, a local public pool in the small city of just 3,500 people.

As they sat in the kiddie pool watching their kids play, their babies became hungry, as babies do. Davis moved her bikini around so she could feed her 6-month-old son Earnest. Buchanan, wearing a one-piece bathing suit, pulled her strap down over her shoulder a little ways to feed her 3-month-old son Roman.

Soon thereafter, another mother came over to them.

“A lady approached and told me ‘You need to cover because my sons are swimming,” Buchanan, of Mora, told Patch on Tuesday.

Buchanan was shocked. This sort of thing had never happened to her or her sister-in-law before. Neither of them responded to the woman and both continued to breastfeed their babies.

About five minutes later, someone else walked up to them. This time it was a female staff member.

“A pool staffer came out and told us that we needed to cover or go to the locker room,” Davis said. “We just informed her that we did not have to do that. We were in our legal right to feed our kids.”
When the staff member told Davis and Buchanan she was going to tell management, they thought that was the end of it. Not quite.

About 20 minutes later, as the family was getting out of the pool and preparing to go home, a police officer approached. Buchanan gave the officer the same spiel: Breastfeeding is legal in Minnesota.
In Minnesota, a mother is allowed to breastfeed “in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.” Furthermore, breastfeeding does not constitute “indecent exposure.”

In fact, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location.
The officer said Buchanan was correct, but said the establishment could ask her to leave if she refused to be more “discreet.”

“I could not believe how extreme that was,” Buchanan said. “Because we weren’t making a show of anything. We weren’t being loud. We seriously were just spending the day at the pool with our children.”

Davis said they had to do a “walk of shame” out of the pool. Everyone watched.

“It was extremely humiliating,” said Buchanan. “The entire pool was watching us. I've never felt so ashamed in my entire life. It was definitely an experience I'd like to not repeat or ever have to go through again. I would hope that no mother would have to go through that.”

When she got home, Buchanan recounted the event on Facebook and said her local public pool had lost her business forever. The post received more than 2,000 reactions and has been shared more than 2,000 times. She also shared the post in a Minnesota breastfeeding Facebook group.

Britany McIalwain was one of those people who saw the post, and she decided to do something about it. She organized a so-called “nurse-in” Saturday at the pool, styled after a sit-in. The peaceful protest was meant to demonstrate and bring awareness to what they called the “women’s rights issue” of public breastfeeding, normalizing and dignifying the act.

About 60-80 people showed up for the event.

“It just blew up,” Buchanan said. She added: “I had no idea that this was how this was going to turn out from just posting how I felt from going there that day.”

Buchanan said the support meant the world to them. Now, they want to make sure no other mother goes through the traumatic experience. They’ve retained an attorney and plan to file an anti-discrimination lawsuit. They hope their story will bring awareness to the issue.

“Nobody's out here trying to expose themselves,” said Buchanan. “We're just trying to feed our children.”

Davis had a simple message for anyone else being shamed for breastfeeding: “Nurse on, momma.”

Messages left with Lindy Crawford, the Mora city administrator, and the local sheriff’s department weren’t immediately returned.

Photos credit: Mary Davis and Stephanie Buchanan, used with permission.