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Romney Administration stood toe to toe against ‘very vocal minority of breast-feeding advocates’ in 2006 MA legislative debate

Apr. 7, 2012 11:53pm Christopher Santarelli

Mitt Romney against breast feeding lobby in 2006 MA legislative debate

(Ben Garvin of the AP and The St. Paul Pioneer Press)

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed has unearthed a 2006 political battle involving then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the state Department of Public Health, and vocal advocacy groups that you don’t see everyday.

A battle involving a group that then Romney spokesman and current campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom dubbed “a very vocal minority of breast-feeding advocates.”

In 2006, Romney urged the Massachusetts Department of Public Heath to reconsider a decision that would have made Massachusetts the first state to ban gift bags to new mothers leaving the maternity ward that included infant formula, coupons, and other presents paid for by the formula companies.

The Department of Public Health had previously made the decision to strike down the gift bags for the belief that the giveaways encourage mothers to give up on breast-feeding, which several medical studies show lead to babies less-likely to suffer from several illnesses and ailments in comparison to bottle-fed babies.

”We’re not disputing the health benefits of breast-feeding, but we think that new mothers should make that choice,” Fehrnstrom said at the time. ”If they choose to bottle-feed, they should be supported in that decision.”

Kaczynski discovered that as the debate went on, Romney took a firmer anti-big government stance on the state attempting to influence the decision of mothers on how to best feed their babies.

“I’m not enthusiastic about the heavy arm of government coming in and saying, ‘We think we know better than the mothers and we are going to decide that they can’t get free formula when it comes as a welcome home kit from the suppliers of formula with Q-tips, baby lotion and so forth,’ ” ABC reported in 2006 Romney said on the issue. “Let’s let the moms decide.”

The administration would face challenges to their stance on the issue, as a coalition formed against Romney, running ads, and circulating a petition. Critics argued that the governor was giving in to corporate interests looking to market their product to consumers on day 1, literally.

As many hospitals began to do away with the gift bags on their own, the Romney Administration argued that the issue had become overblown thanks to a small number of vocal critics.

“No one is seeking to end those practices,” Fehrnstrom said as discussion around the issue persisted. “Yet there is a very vocal minority of breast-feeding advocates who want to take a punitive approach with mothers who choose formula.”

Eventually, Romney was able to direct the state’s public health commissioner to overturn the all-out ban on formula giveaways, but many prominent Massachusetts hospitals still prohibit the gift bags.

In December 2011, Rhode Island became the first state to ban the gift bags.

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Comments (6)

Krisitnnm
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 2:56pm
It’s one thing for hospitals to voluntarily ban formula in gift bags as policy – a whole other thing to make it a LAW, which is what Romney was against. I think it’s insulting to women that we are supposedly so gullible that we can’t figure out that it’s a marketing strategy and we are so stupid that we have to be protected by an advertising law.

Did he also get a $66 million Bristol-Myers Squibb pharmaceutical plant to move to his state and provide over 350 new jobs? Yes – and that was good for moms in his state, too. He may have had additional motives, but he was still right that it shouldn’t have been actual legislation. Women are not weak-minded creatures who need to be legally shielded from advertising. And breastfeeding advocates need to let up a little on the guilt trips on women who cannot or prefer not to breastfeed. That whole thing was an attempted power play, IMO, by breastfeeding advocates. (I am 100% for breastfeeding, BTW. I just know firsthand being a woman who literally HAD to use formula for one child and being made to feel I was a terrible mother because of it.)

This is just another lame attempt to trump up the fictional “war on women” the Democrats want us to believe is happening. Republicans, Democats…they’re BOTH dividing this country and have turned politics into a tabloid team sport! :(

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BetterNTexas
Posted on April 8, 2012 at 4:50pm
Speaking as a mom who nursed her kids, I loved the gift bags. Those had more in them than formula coupons and samples. Generally they were very useful–and the stuff that wasn’t…wait for it…wait for it…I THREW IT AWAY!!! *gasp!!*

That’s what irritates me about all of these do-gooders who try to ban things “for the good of humanity.” They assume they are more knowledgeable and better able to make decisions than the rest of us are. But you know what? I can make my own decisions thank you very much and I don’t need the government or some special interest group to tell me what to do or to take away my choices “for my protection.”

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southernORcobra
Posted on April 8, 2012 at 10:08am
Keep pimping Romney he is still going to lose against Obama.

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Simonne
Posted on April 8, 2012 at 9:57am
Good for Romney.

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sacwoodpusher
Posted on April 8, 2012 at 2:57am
When you put the baby in the crib, YOU MUST put him on his back. When you put the baby in the crib, YOU MUST put him on his belly. When you put the baby in the crib, YOU MUST put him on his side.

You must breast feed! You must do this, you must do that…..No, don’t do that.

Over the course of bringing 5 children home from the hospital, the stories and opinions of health care workers changed. Finally, it was time to breastfeed the 5th newborn, in the hospital. I took him out of the outer layers of clothing, and calmly waited for his body temperature to drop enough, when he would wake up and eat. This is how it is done……and a health care worker came in and was horrified that the baby was not wrapped in excessive clothing. She told me she would go get the lactation coach for my wife….mother of five…….

Those lactation people (they have their own mob, called la leche league) are outspoken radicals.

Even my old hunting dog knows when to breast feed, and when to take the nipple away from the puppies.

I’m glad Romney advised staying out of it. I don’t need the government telling my wife and I how to feed my children. I tell my children…..”The government says I have to put food in front of you. Whether you eat it or not is up to you.” I certainly don’t want the government telling me that my kids must not only be served spinach, but that I must also see that they eat it…At least I hope not, because if I have to nmake them eat spinach, then I’m going

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- sacwoodpusher
  Posted on April 8, 2012 at 2:58am
  At least I hope not, because if I have to nmake them eat spinach, then I’m going to jail.
  
  Report this comment

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