This is the wackiest anti-business agitprop I’ve heard in a while:
According to a Democratic state legislator, South Carolina Victoria’s Secret is "subhuman" for not allowing breastfeeding within the store. Although unlikely to pass, it’s hardly to be unexpected in an age where state legislatures are seriously considering bills to mandate how Wal-Mart spends its payroll benefits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - In a Victoria's Secret store, surrounded by frilly bras and blown-up images of barely covered models, Lori Rueger says she was told to find somewhere else to breast feed.
Rueger's story - told during a hearing in support of a state bill to ensure breast feeding is allowed in public places - so angered a state lawmaker that he's urging women to form a national Mothers Against Victoria's Secret movement.
"It's really kind of subhuman behavior. And subhuman behavior warrants some kind of strong response other than just a little law that we pass in South Carolina," Rep. Walt McLeod, D-Little Mountain, said Wednesday.
Rueger was one of more than a couple of dozen mothers, doctors, lawyers and other breast-feeding advocates who were on hand to urge passage of the bill.
The 29-year-old Charleston mother testified that she was in a Victoria's Secret store in suburban Mount Pleasant and was told by an employee that she could not breast feed her baby in a dressing room and was encouraged to use a restroom in a nearby store instead.
A Victoria's Secret spokesman described what happened with Rueger as a misunderstanding and said it has actually had a positive effect by reopening a dialogue on the issue.
Victoria's Secret has a "long-standing policy to allow nursing in our stores. We are still for and about women," said Anthony Hebron, spokesman for the chain's parent, Limited Brands.
The breast-feeding bill may face a tough time in the House Judiciary Committee next week from Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston, who says he supports the concept, but not the mandate on businesses.
