A mother from Virginia spoke up about her humiliating experience while breastfeeding in church. Annie Peguero nursed her 19-month-old crying baby but someone chastised and escorted her outside the Summit Church in Springfield for not covering her breast and feeding during the service.
Peguero related her experience in a viral video post on Facebook. Nervous about telling her story, the mom said she was approached twice before she was led outside.
Peguero doesn't believe in covering her breasts when she's nursing her baby as it doesn't satisfy her daughter's basic need, according to NBC Washington. She got used to the stares but to her mind what she's doing is the most natural thing between a mom and a baby.
One of the women churchgoers, however, asked her to breastfeed in the church's baby room but Peguero declined to say she was fine and her feeding will not take long. The second time, the woman asked her to leave the church. The woman told Peguero they didn't want churchgoers to feel "uncomfortable" while she fed her hungry baby uncovered, especially when the service streamed online.
Peguero later learned the church has a policy instructing women to tell breastfeeding moms to cover up or escort them to the baby room. Despite loving the church service, Peguero said has not set foot at Summit since the incident as she no longer felt welcomed. She, however, wanted some things changed.
Together with her lawyer, Peguero called on Summit Church to reverse the policy for other moms like her, as she announced in another Facebook video. Under Virginia laws, breastfeeding moms have a right to nurse anywhere they needed and religious sites were not exempt from observing this law, Washington Post reported. Even Pope Francis encouraged breastfeeding in church, as Parent Herald reported.
Where do you side on this matter? Was Peguero right to assert her stance or was the church within bounds to impose its policy? Sound off in the comments below.
