Nursing Mom On Jury Duty Releases Photos Of Disgusting Bathroom She Was Told To Pump In, Court Changes It Pronto

An unnamed nursing mom on jury duty was told to pump in what anyone would consider disgusting conditions at a Memphis, TN courthouse. This kind of story is, sadly, nothing new as so many nursing mothers have been told to pump in bathrooms, cramped and dirty storage closets or in places that have little to no privacy. However, in this story, the mother sharing the photos on Facebook prompted changes for future nursing mothers on jury duty at this courthouse.

The mother took the below photos and posted to Facebook, where they quickly made the rounds and eventually ended up the country mayor’s Twitter page:

bathroom

(via Twitter)

I am so glad she decided to share these photos because, take a look- the only place to sit is the toilet. According to The Daily Mail, there is also no surface to place the breast pump. What is a mother supposed to do? Sit on an open toilet with a pump in her lap? Balance the bottles full of milk with one hand and clean up and stash away her pump with the other? It’s so revolting to contemplate.

County spokesperson Steve Shular claims they had no idea of the room’s conditions and have plans in place to convert a break lounge:

‘We worked very quickly to get those accommodations changed,’ Shular said. ‘And we will have that in order by Monday.’

Their quick action is commendable but it would have been nice if they could have done this to begin with. They claim to have not known about the situation before but SOMEONE had to have known about it if this filthy bathroom was designated for women to pump or nurse in the first place. Sadly, I cannot say I am surprised. At a previous job, we had a building that was only built seven or eight years ago and it still had no designated room for an employee to pump. I know that there were women that had to do it in the bathroom and that makes me sick. I imagine this happens in many other places of work.

Nursing mothers really do have it rough when it comes to nursing or pumping away from home. There are so many clueless individuals who find it “sexual” and insist their virgin eyes not be tainted with the crass image of a mother feeding her child but what is her alternative in most places? A filthy bathroom stall? Being cramped in her car? Or my very favorite, “why doesn’t she just feed the baby at home”? I am not exaggerating when I say that I truly long for a time where nursing mothers are not only welcome everywhere but treated with dignity and respect. A nursing mother should be allowed to nurse (or pump) any time she needs to without worrying that she is going to be auto-flushed and splashed with stanky butt water. Frankly, it’s depressing that this is even still an issue that we discuss in 2014.

(Image: Dmitry Lobanov/Shutterstock)

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