WASHINGTON — Breast-feeding news is busting out all over in Washington this year.
In January, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin issued a call to promote breast-feeding by offering support and education to mothers and encouraging employers to provide breast-feeding opportunities to lactating workers.
Then, this week, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum came under fire after guards told a mother who sat on a bench in the gallery’s basement to feed her infant daughter that nursing was not allowed.
Actually, a 1999 federal law permits a woman to breast-feed her child “at any location in a federal building or on federal property.”
The Hirshhorn apologized to the woman, but advocates said they would still hold a “nurse-in” there this weekend.
On Thursday, the IRS deemed that breast pumps will be tax-deductible medical expenses. Before, the pumps — which can cost $20 to $3,500 — were categorized as feeding equipment, which did not allow them to be deducted on federal returns or eligible for flexible spending account reimbursements.
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