Updated: 6/24/2008 2:58:43 PM
By Chasity Gunn, Daily News Journal
Heather Rankins was sitting outside a Rutherford County courtroom nursing her 3-month-old son, Payton, when officers asked her to move to a more discreet location.
Rankins, 22, refused, saying officers discriminated against her Monday morning.
Rutherford County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Potts said Rankins' breast was exposed and officers were concerned because inmates walk down the hallway for court appearances. He said Rankins began screaming and causing a disturbance so he asked her to leave or be taken to jail.
But Rankins said her breasts where covered except when she switched sides. She believes her rights were violated Monday morning.
"If you didn't know what it looked like to breastfeed, you would not have known that she was breastfeeding," said Ginger Tipton, Rankins' mother.
According to Tennessee law enacted in 2006, "a mother has a right to breastfeed her child who is 12 months of age or younger in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present."
The law states that breastfeeding is not considered public indecency and that "a unit of local government shall not prohibit breastfeeding in public by local ordinance."
Potts, who asked a female deputy to speak to Rankins initially, said he didn't deny her right to breastfeed.
"If she had been covered up, nothing would have been said to her," Potts said.
However, Tennessee law doesn't require the mother to cover any portion of her body while breastfeeding.
Potts said he doesn't know of any rules regarding breastfeeding in Rutherford County's Judicial Building.
"It is the public policy of Tennessee to allow a woman to breastfeed their infants," said Barbara Moss, a Nashville attorney who deals with employment law.
Tennessee law requires employers to "make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location" other than a toilet stall "where the employee can express her breast milk in privacy."
Rankins was accompanying her mother, who had a hearing on a theft charge in General Sessions Court. She said she started nursing her son in the courtroom, but he became fussy.
"If a child is crying in the courtroom, they ask you to leave," Rankins said.
So she did and sat on the floor outside of the courtroom and began nursing between 9:35 and 9:45 a.m. Rankins said she has nursed her son in the courtroom and in the hallwayon several previous occasions.
Potts said this is the court's busiest time and sheriff's officersreceived several complaints.
"We sent a female police officer because we felt that was moreappropriate," Potts said.
Potts eventually spoke with Rankins after she refused the female police officer's request.
He said he offered his office or another office in the courtroom as a more discreet location for Rankins to breastfeed.
Rankins began "screaming at the top of her lungs" for her mother, Potts said.
Her mother as well as officers in other parts of the building came into the hallway in response to Rankins' screams, he said.
Potts said he notified her he was going to take her to jail if shedidn't calm down.
Rankins' mother rescheduled her hearing, and the three left.
"I was not screaming," Rankins said during an interview later.
"I don't think it was fair what they did to me because they wronged me," Rankins said.
She's not sure if she's going to sue for discrimination. Aninternational advocacy group for breastfeeding backs up her stand.
"If it's OK to bottle-feed a baby, it's OK to breastfeed a baby," said Kelly Hayes, accredited leader with La Leche League. "The understanding is they have the right to breastfeed any place they are."
La Leche, which means milk in Spanish, is an international nonprofit organization that provides education, information and support to women who breastfeed. Leaders of the league are experienced mothers who have been trained and accredited by the league.
"A lot of mothers are embarrassed about it," she explained.However, she noted, "You see more at a pool than at breastfeeding."
"These kind of things happen seldom but weigh heavily on a woman's decision to breastfeed," Hayes added.
Rankins said she breastfed her 2-year-old son as well.
"It's natural," she said. "How can you tell me I can't feed my child?"
