On a blistering summer day, Jane Cerussi was discreetly nursing her fussy infant by the pool at an Elk Grove gym, when a manager asked her to move or cover up because other members had complained.
"I never expected something like this to happen in this day and age in Northern California," Cerussi said.
A similar incident recently at another California Family Fitness gym in Rocklin is calling attention to an often overlooked law protecting a mother's right to breast-feed in public.
Despite the law and studies showing the health benefits of the practice, advocates say what happened in Elk Grove and Rocklin reflects a society still unaccustomed to the sight of nursing mothers in public places.
Last week, the California Women's Law Center sent a letter to the locally owned California Family Fitness chain after the Rocklin woman was told she couldn't breast-feed where she could be seen by other members.
The employee had said breast-feeding in a public area was "offensive" to other gym members, and when the woman complained to a manager she was told that her actions were "disrespectful," according to the letter.
But under a California law enacted in 1997, women are allowed to breast-feed anywhere in public where they're entitled to be present.
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