Alabama supreme court grants breastfeeding women exemption from jury duty after public outcry

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Breastfeeding women in Alabama will be excused from jury duty, the state’s highest court ordered unanimously on Friday, in response to public outcry from a mother who said that she was threatened with child protective services for bringing her nursing infant into court.

The Alabama Supreme Court issued an administrative order that requires Alabama judges to have written procedures excusing breastfeeding mothers from jury duty. Previously, state code did not specifically make exemptions for nursing mothers.

“A nursing mother of an infant child clearly qualifies for the excuse from jury service” under the existing court codes, the order read. The justices added that the process of approving exemption “may be submitted by telephone, electronic mail, or in writing” ahead of jury selection. All nine justices concurred with the order.

Twenty-two states in the U.S. have bills that make specific exemptions for nursing mothers, according to a 2021 report by the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar bill was introduced in the Alabama legislature in 2022, but it was killed before it reached a vote.

The order was explicitly in response to statements from several mothers in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, who said that they were harassed and threatened by judges for bringing their breastfeeding babies in for jury duty.

Kandace Brown complained on Facebook that a Jefferson County circuit court judge threatened to call the Department of Human Resources — which includes child protective services — unless Brown arranged for someone else to pick up her 3-month-old from the courthouse. Brown said two other mothers who brought their children were told the same.

Brown also said that she submitted forms to get excused from jury duty before she was summoned to court, but was denied.

“If I’m still breastfeeding, I’m going to have to (bring the baby). I don’t have a choice. Like she would literally starve for the day or the week if I was chosen,” Brown wrote in the post.

Brown wrote that when she was finally dismissed, she was told that she would be summoned again the next day and that she would have to leave her infant at home.

“No ma’am I cannot pump and get her to take a bottle. How can you tell me how to feed my child?!” Brown wrote.

Several mothers came forward with similar stories after Brown published her story, which had more than 1,000 likes on Facebook on Saturday.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Shanta Owens later called the encounter a “miscommunication” to AL.com on Wednesday, adding, “The juror was indeed excused a short time after arriving for jury service, as was any other similarly situated individual called for jury service.”

Owens added that as a former nursing mother herself, she “would excuse jury service for a period of time for any individual under the circumstances.”

Alabama circuit judges have 30 days to submit the new written procedures.

The Associated Press