MCCORDSVILLE, Ind. — A mom in McCordsville is pushing for an Indiana law change, after getting called up for jury duty just weeks after giving birth.
Anna Friedman's focus was on her baby Elizabeth when she received a summons for jury duty in Hancock County Circuit Court.
"I was in tears, how am I going to leave my newborn? Who's going to feed her? I mean, she's exclusively breastfed. I'm not a working mother," Friedman said. "I have not been pumping. She has not learned how to drink from a bottle. I don't have a huge stash of milk in my freezer."
So Friedman wrote to the judge, explaining that a trial would be a serious hardship for a nursing mom.
"The clerk wrote back and said 'you are not excused. You must show up.' And then I cried even more," Friedman said.
She discovered, unlike many other states, breastfeeding does not exempt Hoosiers from jury duty.
But Friedman searched Indiana code and did discover that at least one of our laws allows nursing moms to breastfeed anywhere a woman has a right to be.
That law supersedes other rules, like "no children in the courtroom."
"So I wrote back to the judge and I said, 'I will serve as a juror, but you need to be aware that I will be nursing my infant in the jury box.' If I'm in the jury box. That is my right," Friedman said.
Within hours, the clerk responded. She was excused.
But now Friedman is concerned for other Hoosier mothers who may get a summons and have to show up.
"We really need more legislative protection for breastfeeding moms and I was shocked to discover that we don't have anything about jury duty in the state laws," Friedman said.
Twenty other states do have laws either excusing breastfeeding moms from jury duty, or allowing them to postpone jury duty, including most states surrounding Indiana.
Now advocates want a change here.
"This is something I feel we need to address," said Sarah Long, president of the Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition. "It's not that they don't want to serve, and they want to provide their civic duty. It's a health issue. Breastfeeding and human milk is something that we consider is a public health imperative."
"This is just a matter of health for our entire society, and we need to recognize that," Friedman said. "To say 'stay home with your infant, nurse them, this is the optimal nutrition for them' and then also say 'no, you need to come to court. We don't care about how you're feeding your child.' That shouldn't be."
The Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition is now taking a look at potentially lobbying for a change at the Statehouse.
Friedman also plans to take this further. She's now looking for a lawmaker to sponsor a bill to exempt Hoosier breastfeeding moms from jury duty.