A Michigan judge has come under fire for asking a woman to leave after she dared besot his precious courtroom with the horrific, abominable specter of breastfeeding her child. Fetch the special judicial smelling salts!
Natalie Hegedus says her 5-month-old son had an ear infection that day, and so she brought him with her to court to take care of a boating ticket she'd incurred over the summer. Because he was an infant and because he was sick, while she waited to stand before the judge, her son became hungry. She went to the back of the court room and discreetly began breastfeeding.
The Huffington Post reports that once a bailiff saw her, he handed the judge a note. The judge said, in front of everyone present, that he did not allow breastfeeding in his courtroom asked Hegedus if she felt that breastfeeding was inappropriate. She replied that it's legal to breastfeed in public (it is) and that she didn't find it inappropriate. The judge disagreed, and she was asked to leave. Shockingly, the judge did not follow this action up by wiping girl boob cooties from his eyes onto the bailiff while calling out, "No backsies!"
Hegedus claims she was reduced to tears after the incident, posting about it on a BabyCenter forum.
I wonder how Lady Justice feels about the judge's "no breasts in court" policy.
Natalie Hegedus, Mom, Kicked out of Courtroom for Breastfeeding [HuffPo]