Federal and state legislation protects the rights of parents to chest/breastfeed and express their milk. California is a leader in advancing the rights of parents to provide their own milk to their children. Several State laws address issues including milk expression in the workplace, jury duty while breastfeeding, lactation in airports, transit stations, and jails, and breastfeeding in public, to name a few. Additional California policies do not specifically mention breastfeeeding/lactation but nevertheless play a role in chest/breastfeeding success.
For a complete, chronological list of State lactation-related legislation, go to the California Breastfeeding Coalition webpage, California Breastfeeding Laws.
For a summary of lactation legislation for all states, District of Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, go to the National Conference of State Legislatures Breastfeeding State Laws webpage.
The California Employment Development Department (EDD) has a Paid Family Leave (PFL) webpage to help navigate the application process for benefits that help provide income to help new parents.
Several federal laws also protect and support chest/breastfeeding and are summarized on the United States Breastfeeding Committee website.