Bye Bye Nursing Breaks: Preparing For The Trumpocalypse Part IV

If you are chomping at the bit to see the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, you probably don't know all that you are giving up. For instance, I bet you didn't realize that it was ObamaCare that brought us nursing breaks for moms.

That's right. It's the Fair Labor Standards Act which requires workplaces to give nursing moms reasonable breaks to express breast milk for a year after they give birth. The law also requires employers to provide a place, other than a restroom, shielded from view, free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.

However, the amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that requires employers to do what basic human decency would provide anyhow was part of the Affordable Care Act.

Will Trump's repeal of the Affordable Care Act result in a repeal of this law? Right now Republicans are talking about wholesale repeal, and then maybe a grace period to find alternatives (although some want a repeal with no grace period).

In all the discussions about this repeal and what needs to be preserved, I have heard zero discussion about protecting nursing moms. Considering that Mr. Trump has called pregnancy an inconvenience to employers (then denied saying it, but he did say it), it seems unlikely that he gives one flying hoot about nursing moms in the workplace.

If you think this is an important part of the Affordable Care Act to preserve, it's time to write and call your members of Congress and Senators to tell them family values includes basic decency for new moms.