General
Alabama state Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, is working to prefile a bill that would excuse nursing mothers from serving on a jury.
DuBose said she was motivated to work on this legislation after hearing the story of Kandace Brown, the most recent of several Alabama mothers who claim they were harassed and threatened by Jefferson County judges for bringing breastfeeding babies with them for jury duty.
Brown says she called and turned in forms to be excused prior to reporting to the courthouse but was refused.
“The judge said that those with children there need to make accommodations for their children to be picked up. (The judge said) they would hate for DHR to be involved,” Brown posted on Facebook.
Under Alabama law, there are no protections exempting nursing mothers from serving on a jury.
“It’s almost like a loophole in our system that shouldn’t have been in there,” DuBose told AL.com today.
“At least 17 other states have already passed this legislation. And it’s just common sense. You know, we want to protect moms. We want to protect babies. It’s a parental rights issue.”
“A mother shouldn’t be relying on a subjective, sympathetic judge to determine whether she can feed her baby or not,” DuBose continued.
“And the great news is it’s a bipartisan issue, because I’ve talked to people on both sides of the aisle that are in favor of this legislation.”
DuBose said government legal teams are currently working to update a 2022 bill sponsored by former state representative and current State Auditor Andrew Sorrell that would exempt nursing mothers from jury duty for up to two years.
Sorrell said the bill was previously rejected by the House Committee on Constitution, Campaigns and Elections because representatives did not believe this was an issue impacting women in Alabama.
Sorrell said it was assumed “any reasonable judge would exempt a nursing mother from jury duty,” he said. “Well, as we found out…not all judges are reasonable.”
DuBose is confident the bill will have more success this session.
“This is not a complex issue,” she said.
“I think it’s one of these things that we can go ahead and get it dropped. And you know nothing moves super-fast, but hopefully it should. We’ll be able to get it started as one of the first things that we’re able to do, I hope.”
Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, will also be sponsoring a version of the bill in the Alabama Senate, according to DuBose.
Weaver did not respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Patrick Sellers, D-Pleasant Grove, expressed sympathy for Brown’s story as a new parent himself, and agreed that legal protections for nursing mothers are something that need to be “explored.”
“I have a two-month-old, so we’re solely breastfeeding,” he said. “I do understand the particular care for nursing mothers relating to jury duty.”
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