Conn. woman harassed while breastfeeding
TORRINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) – Jessie Maher was breastfeeding her one-month-old baby Zinnia in a restaurant area at the Target store in Connecticut, uncovered, when she says a man verbally assaulted her.
“He was saying, you’re disgusting you’re disgusting, and he ended up calling me a whore,” said Maher.
Maher was shaken up, surprised that in this day and age someone would attack her for breastfeeding her infant in public.
“A breastfeeding mom is just sitting there defenseless holding her baby just feeding them, you can’t just jump up and react,” said Maher.
She said as much fear as that man made her feel, she felt a lot of love, joy, and support from the employees and customers at the Target store. They came around her when they heard the man yelling, some of the employees even formed a wall around her so she could continue breast-feeding, until the man left.
“Everyone keeps talking about the wall of Target employees, which was great I felt protected. I felt like nothing was going to go wrong,” said Maher.
Target does allow and encourages breastfeeding in their dressing rooms, if a woman wants privacy.