A police officer gives a woman a traffic ticket for stopping her car on the roadside to breastfeed her newborn baby
While on duty, a police officer noticed a car parked illegally on the side of the road.
In fact, when this New York City Police Department officer approached and inspected the car, he discovered a mother breastfeeding her three-week-old baby in the back seat of the parked car.
Instead of listening to her story and warning her not to do breastfeed her baby again in public, the officer gave the young woman a traffic violation ticket unceremoniously.
via CBS News
Should it be illegal for a mother to breastfeed her baby in public?
Most people would agree that it should not be at all, however, perhaps this New York police officer felt that Guillermina Rodriguez had to pay the "price" of being a mother—and for having parked on the side of the road.
As if life were not tough enough for Guillermina, a mother of four, including her three-week-old baby, a young woman who every day has to try to manage a stressful life in Manhattan.
Due to the fact that she had been stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour, her newborn baby daughter had started fretting and crying. Obviously, the baby was hungry and Rodriguez knew that if she did not feed her, the baby would never stop crying.
But since she was stuck in a traffic jam and she had no choice, Guillermina stopped her car as soon as possible and got in the back seat with her baby daughter and started breastfeeding her.
A few minutes later, a police officer and a tow truck appeared behind her car! The police officer had called for a tow truck to remove her car because it was parked unlawfully on the side of the road.
It was then that the woman honked her horn, trying to attract the attention of the police officer to let him know her predicament, but when she tried, she could see that the police officer had not heard or seen her.
Later, instead of hearing her story about why she had parked her car on the side of the road and was breastfeeding her newborn baby, the policeman did not want to listen to her at all. Moreover, he was very annoyed and spoke to her angrily with no attempt to understand her situation.
In fact, the police officer was not interested in the mother's "touching story", and did not feel any empathy for the mother who was just trying to do the right thing for her newborn baby, just like any other mother would have done.
Furthermore, the New York Police Department has since stated that the police officer had written her a traffic violation citation before noticing that Guillermina was breastfeeding her newborn baby in the back seat of the car, and, therefore, the traffic ticket and the fine were still valid.
An indicative story that once again continues the debate about the right to breastfeed in public places. And you, where do you stand on this issue?
