Breastfeeding Is Anti-Republican?
February 16, 2011 4 Comments
For some reason Michelle Obama’s program to encourage and help women with breastfeeding is not sitting well with Republicans.
Mrs. Obama wants to include breastfeeding as part of her “Let’s Move” campaign to reduce childhood obesity. She cites evidence “that babies who were breastfed for the first four to six months were less likely to be overweight or obese than children who were fed using formula and began eating solid foods before their fourth month.”
She also notes that in the African-American community 40% of babies are not breastfed, compared to only 25% of the general population.
To help this along the American government has introduced rules that allow ”tax breaks on nursing equipment” and more flexible working rules. This is because one of the reasons breastfeeding stops is that women go back to work and it’s too difficult to keep it up if they are not at home with the child.
All of this seems pretty logical to me. Babies are healthier if they are breastfed, women have problems doing this, so the government is trying to help overcome these problems.
Who wouldn’t be happy with that? The Republicans apparently.
They are accusing Mrs. Obama of pushing a “nanny state” and even Palin has joined in to accuse her ”of trying to use government power to dictate private behaviour like eating habits.”
But isn’t that the point? Only Mrs. Obama has the power to influence people to this degree and she’s doing what she thinks is best for the children of the country and their future health.
She certainly can’t force anyone to breastfeed and each mother has to make her own choice. Obama’s office has said that “breastfeeding is a very personal choice for every woman… We are trying to make it easier for those who choose to do it.”
But if she can help educate women so they can make their own informed decisions, and then make it easier for them to carry out their plan for looking after their children (something which already 75% of American women are doing and probably could use a little assistance with), I can’t see the problem.
Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com
yeah- it might impact Nestle’s profits
How dare the government give out tax breaks for breast-feeding equipment — much better to give lower income moms free formula.
I breast fed all 3 of my children for up to 13 months. I was fortunate to be able to be a stay at home mom so breastfeeding was a good fit for me. And I was a registered Republican. Why do we have to break everything down along party lines?
I do not know many people who are so rigid that they do not flow between the parties pretty easily. Breastfeeding is a healthy choice and a personal choice. I applaud Mrs. Obama for championing the cause but I also do not think that we need to demonize those who do not share our ethos.
and corporate tax breaks go virtually unscrutinized…