Save the Children Romania says age limit in bill on breastfeeding in public places is discriminatory

Save the Children Romania considers that the 24-month age limit included in the draft bill on breastfeeding in public places is discriminatory, and asks the Romanian Parliament to remove this limit from the legislative project. The NGO explains in a press release that setting an age limit restricts the protection to children of up two 24 months of age, and violates the child's right to life and development. Also, the organization says breastfeeding does not stop at the age of two. The draft bill, which is currently debated in the Senate, sanctions with fines the eviction from a public place of the mother and child, any kind of ban on breastfeeding in public spaces, or the refusal to provide services to a person because the mother breastfeeds her baby. However, the bill also imposes a 24-month age limit for the child. “Although the explanatory memorandum of the legislative proposal refers to the discriminatory nature of behaviors that oppose or hinder breastfeeding of children in public places, the proposed regulations will ultimately lead to the introduction of an exclusive protection regime for mothers who breastfeed babies younger than 2 years. Article 2 of the draft law refers, repeatedly and precisely, to the age of the breastfed child, “a breastfed child of up to 24 months,” meaning that the initiators take out of the sphere of protection the situations in which the children are over that age,” reads the Save the Children’s press release. According to Gabriela Alexandrescu, executive president Save the Children Romania, there is no legal, medical or ethical reason to include this limitation. The NGO also points out that a World Health Organization recommendation says breastfeeding does not stop at the age of two. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com