Theresa Phillips was visiting her daughter at Kiva Elementary School in Paradise Valley, Arizona to celebrate "Special Person's Week" when her infant son needed to nurse.
She was sitting outside visiting with her daughter and nursing her son when the school's assistant principal came up to her and asked her to go to a more private area.
Without ever actually admitting that the problem was that Phillips was breastfeeding, the assistant principal told her that he could offer her a room for her "to have some privacy."
When Phillips said she didn't need privacy, he responded:
"I would prefer that, for you and the children."
When Phillips told the assistant principal that he was making her uncomfortable and that she had a right to breastfeed in public (it is legal in all 50 states), the assistant principal offered a non-apology:
"I'm sorry if you're upset."
*We are not linking to the original video here because it depicts minors without the consent of their guardians.*
In a statement from the school district that was shared with People, it was stated that school administrators did not want the other children "exposed to breastfeeding" against the wishes of their parents or for them to be filmed without permission in the videos that Phillips posted to Facebook.
The statement said:
"While we as adults understand the important connection and health benefits realized for mother and child through this form of nourishment, we also realize some parents may not wish to have their children exposed to breastfeeding and to be filmed by an unknown adult at school without their prior permission,"
She told NBC12 News that she didn't want to show her daughter that she should back down when she wasn't in the wrong.
"I didn't want to cause a scene but I would have had to have left, I would have had to have left my daughter and [be] put into a room, and that would have shown her that that was okay, and I don't want her to feel like that's okay."
Phillips is hosting a nurse-in at Kiva Elementary School today to protest.
There were some who questioned Theresa's choice to breastfeed without covering herself.
Becky Darnell/Facebook
Whatever an individual's feelings on the subject of breastfeeding, it remains true that it is legal in all 50 states to breastfeed in public, with or without covering up.
Others were much more supportive of Phillips' efforts.
Aimee Hanebeck Hernandez/Facebook
Sara Seeburg/Facebook
Elizabeth Morton/Facebook
Breastfeeding is a subject which tends to stir up strong opinions in people.
The fact remains that it is beneficial to children to be breastfed and a baby is hungry when they are hungry. Thus the laws protecting parents' right to breastfeed in public.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads
