Any breastfeeding mom will tell you that pumping ain’t easy. In fact, it’s pretty hard work. And not always easy or pleasant work. Whether it’s the three ounces you needed to pump to go out grocery shopping alone for an hour, or the tireless pumping you do every few hours at work, breastfeeding moms know that EVERY SINGLE OUNCE COUNTS, and if anyone messes with that milk, our mama bear rage will come out full throttle.
Now imagine for a second that you had to be away from your breastfed baby for a few days for work, a family emergency, or some other unexpected reason. It was hard enough to say goodbye, but then you had to drag your pump along with you, and take it out every few hours to pump. You carefully stored each drop of milk in a few bottles, and maybe even a cooler. But as you were finally heading on a flight home to be reunited with your sweet little one, you were told by TSA officials that all that milk you painstakingly pumped would have to be dumped right in the trash.
WTF, right? But this exact scenario has happened countless times to moms all over the country, unfortunately.
Back in April, a mom named Jessica Martinez was reportedly forced to dump 500 ounces of breastmilk at Heathrow airport. (Yep you read that right — 500 OUNCES.) Then in May, actress Rose Byrne described a similar incident on The Late Show With Steven Colbert, in which her breastmilk was confiscated by TSA. And in December 2015, a mom named Vanessa Urango took to social media to complain of an incident where Delta airlines allegedly wouldn’t let her transport her frozen breastmilk on dry ice, making her concerned that the milk could spoil during the flight.
And these are just the moms who made headlines with their experiences.
Do you know what the craziest part is about all of this? The whole time, there have been laws in place protecting a breastfeeding mom’s right to travel on airplanes with pumped milk and all the equipment needed to pump and store it. The problem is, the TSA hasn’t been enforcing those rules. At least not consistently.
Until now.
Last week, The Washington Examiner reported that the House finally passed a bill to do something about that outrageous discrepancy. The Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Act (adorably abbreviated to the BABES Act) will now require all TSA screeners and employees to be trained in what the rules are, and to make sure they are upheld.
Big step fwd for traveling __parents who shouldn't have to educate @TSA agents on their own policies, as often happens https://t.co/FPsXy91T50
— Kimberly Cernak Vega (@kcernak) October 2, 2016
While the bill doesn’t exactly put a new law in place, it is set up to make sure that everyone who works for airlines will know that breastfeeding moms can damn well travel with their pumped milk — and all the equipment associated with it — without being stopped and forced to pour it out.
“Unfortunately, although this exemption is in place, we’ve seen problems with compliance,” said Jaime Herrera-Beutler, a Republican House representative who pushed for the bill to be passed. “There have been too many instances reported by __parents that TSA officials either didn’t know or simply refused to follow these exemptions.”
THANK YOU, Rep. Herrera-Beutler. Breastfeeding moms everywhere are giving you a hearty round of applause.
The bill gives the TSA 90 days to make sure all airport personnel are aware of the security exemptions for transporting breastmilk. And while it still needs to be passed by the Senate, The Washington Examiner reports that the bill seems to be broadly supported, so it looks like it’ll pass without any hiccups.
About darn time. I would have been furious if TSA had made me throw out breast milk when I was traveling with the little 'un https://t.co/u1qP7NmwlZ
— Rina Shaikh-Lesko (@RinaWrites) September 29, 2016
Maybe it’s taken a while, but hey, it’s nice to know that someone is finally taking on this issue, and making sure that no more hardworking moms will have to experience the trauma of having to dump the milk they’ve pumped for their babies.
“Parents who are trying to follow these rules are consistently singled-out for harassment-like scrutiny by TSA,” added Rep. Herrera-Beutler. “This has led to breast milk being forcibly tossed out, equipment being broken, and flights missed.”
Sigh.
Yes, yes, and yes — it’s absolutely harassment and totally unacceptable. Let’s just hope that this sort of unfair treatment is about to become a thing of the past, once and for all.