A Guide to the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act

The bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House in January 2019 by Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and sponsored in the Senate by Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). It was signed into law on July 25, 2019, and it went into effect on July 25, 2020.  

What is the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019? 

The Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act requires “certain public buildings”—that are open to the public, contain a public restroom, and provide lactation spaces for their employees—to provide a lactation space for pumping and nursing visitors. The lactation space can’t be a bathroom and must: 

• Be a private space 
• Include a chair and a work surface
• Provide an electrical outlet for a breast pump

What does this law mean for breastfeeding?

As of July 25, 2020, breastfeeding and pumping parents should be able to find clean and private lactation spaces in any public federal building that also offers a public restroom.

Does this mean that all federal buildings will have a lactation space?

Not necessarily. The law only applies to public federal buildings that already provide public restrooms. Furthermore, the law specifically exempts public federal buildings from complying with the law if any of the following conditions apply:

• If the building does not contain a lactation room for employees 
• If it doesn’t have a space that could be repurposed, or a space that could be made private by using portable materials, at a reasonable cost
• The cost of new construction required to create a lactation room is not feasible

Unfortunately, there’s also some gray area in terms of who will be responsible for providing the lactation spaces—the owner of the building or the tenant in the building—and how lactation spaces will be paid for. But the good news is that this legislation shines a spotlight on the need for lactation spaces in federal buildings for both employee and public use.