Relates to the right to breast feed
This bill amends New York’s Civil Rights Law section 79-e, which protects the right to breastfeed in public or private places where a person is otherwise authorized to be. The core change is to replace gendered references to “mother” and “her” with gender-neutral terms such as “person” and “their,” while keeping the underlying right intact. The bill also clarifies that the right applies regardless of whether the nipple is covered during or incidental to breastfeeding.
In practical terms, the bill does not create a new right so much as it modernizes existing statutory language to be more inclusive. It preserves the legal protection against restrictions on breastfeeding in any location where the individual may lawfully be, and it applies immediately upon enactment. The measure would affect the interpretation and wording of the Civil Rights Law, but it does not appear to impose new duties on public or private entities beyond the existing prohibition on interfering with breastfeeding rights.
The bill would amend Civil Rights Law § 79-e by updating the statutory language from gender-specific references to gender-neutral ones. This change would affect how the right to breastfeed is described in state law, extending the text to include any person who breastfeeds rather than only a mother. The substantive legal protection remains the same: breastfeeding is permitted in any public or private location where the person is otherwise authorized to be, regardless of whether the breast is covered.
The available record shows no committee transcript, no recorded votes, and no formal opposition or support statements. Based on the bill text and its straightforward drafting, the measure appears to be a low-conflict clarification and modernization bill rather than a controversial policy change. The overall sentiment is therefore best characterized as neutral to supportive, with the bill framed as an inclusive update to existing law.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. If any debate were to arise, it would likely center on the bill’s use of gender-neutral terminology and whether the statutory language should be updated to reflect broader family and gender identities. However, the bill does not alter the underlying breastfeeding right, so substantive disagreement appears limited in the available record.