Section 1. Short Title.

• This Act may be cited as the "New Mothers' Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act of 1998."

Section 2. Findings.

The Congress finds the following:

1. Women with infants and toddlers are the fastest growing segment of today's labor force.
2. At least 50 percent of women who are employed when they become pregnant return to the labor force by the time their children are 3 months old.
3. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least the first 12 months of a child's life. The Academy also recommends that arrangements be made to provide expressed breastmilk if mother and child must separate.
4. Breastmilk contains all the nutrients a child needs for ideal growth and development (including helpful antibodies, proteins, immune cells, and growth factors that can only be found in breastmilk), promotes closeness between mother and child, and is easy to digest.
5. Breastmilk is the first line of immunization defense and enhances the effectiveness of vaccines given to infants.
6. Research studies show that children who are not breastfed have higher rates of mortality, meningitis, some types of cancers, asthma and other respiratory illnesses, bacterial and viral infections, diarrhoeal diseases, ear infections, allergies, and obesity.
7. Research studies have also shown that breastmilk and breastfeeding have protective effects against the development of a number of chronic diseases, including juvenile diabetes, lymphomas, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, some chronic liver diseases, and ulcerative colitis.
8. A number of recent studies have shown that breastfed children have higher IQs at all ages.
9. Breastfeeding promotion and support are an integral part of nutrition services provided by the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, and has been shown to reduce costs. For example, in a recent cost-benefit study in the State of Colorado, it was found that exclusively breastfeeding a WIC infant saved $161 in the first 6 months of life when compared to formula-fed infants. A Medicaid savings of $112 per infant was realized by this group while pharmacy costs were approximately 50 percent lower.
10. In 1997 the United States had one of the lowest breastfeeding rates of all industrialized nations and one of the highest rates of infant mortality.
11. Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the mother's risk of breast and ovarian cancer, hip fractures, and osteoporosis.
12. Breastfeeding releases a hormone in a woman's body that causes her uterus to return to its normal size and shape more quickly, and reduces blood loss after delivery.
13. Although title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) was amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, courts have not interpreted this amendment to include breastfeeding despite the intent of the Congress to include it.
14. Women who wish to continue breastfeeding after returning to work have relatively few needs: availability of suitable, dependable, efficient breast pumps; a clean, convenient, safe, private, and comfortable location to express milk at the worksite; the opportunity to pump their breasts frequently enough to maintain their milk supply; and an adequate place to temporarily store expressed milk.
15. Many employers have seen positive results from facilitating lactation programs in the workplace, including low absenteeism, high productivity, high company loyalty, high employee morale, and lower health care costs.