# judge takes away baby for newborn screening AND prevents breastfeeding



## Chancita (Feb 19, 2007)

This just came to my attention yesterday, here's the synopsis. The Anayas are fundamentalist Christians who oppose newborn metabolic screening. They had a court battle with their last child in 2005 and the judge (in Nebraska) upheld that they had to do the screening (but they didn't). This time around, the court seized the 6 week old infant, placed him in foster care pending the test results and then at the hearing, denied the mother the right to nurse the baby while in foster care.

Both articles can be found at the following link:
http://www.nebraskainjurylawreport.com/

After much digging, I have found the JUDGE's EMAIL!!!! woo-hoo. I thought I was going to have to write a paper letter. See below my comments which will be sent to her. I think we should have a letter writing campaign. This has the potential to affect all of us. What if children were seized because someone chose not to vaccinate? And, of course, if there is no threat of violence, a mother should never be prevented from breastfeeding.
Here is the pertinent information about the judge preventing the mom from nursing:

Earlier in the hearing, Mary Anaya, who has been visiting her son several times a day in foster care to breastfeed, cringed when she heard him crying from outside the courtroom.
Dressed in a conservative black suit, she told the judge her convictions prevented her from swearing, so instead she "affirmed" to tell the truth before taking the stand. During her testimony, she answered questions about her son's feeding habits. "Do you nurse your baby?" her attorney, Jeff Downing, asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"How many times per day?"

"Eight or nine times," she said.

"If I said someone came in and said the baby needs nursed, this would be about the right time, wouldn't it?"

Interrupting, Crnkovich said the line of questioning was inappropriate and briefly talked to the attorneys in private.

She then left the courtroom, and when she returned, she quipped, "It has come to the court's attention . . . that the child is hungry and needs to be fed."

She ordered workers with the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department to take the baby out of the courthouse, feed him, and not bring him back.

She later added, "I don't approve of Mom popping in (to the foster home) nine times a day to nurse."

The hearing continued with Mary Anaya on the stand.

Dear Judge Crnkovich,
I am writing to voice my concern over your recent decision to deny a mother the right to nurse her child. I am neither a fundamentalist Christian nor a Nebraska citizen, but your decision holds ramifications for American mothers and babies everywhere in the country. Each time that a mother decides to breastfeed her child, she is choosing to give that baby the best start in life. Breastfeeding has been linked to a lower incidence of obesity, asthma, allergies, ear infections... the list goes on and on. It showed terrible insensitivity for you to comment that you don't think that Mary Anaya should keep "popping in" to nurse her baby multiple times a day. Newborns need to be with their mothers and nursing is one way of bonding with a new baby. As I understand it, the only questionable threat that Mary Anaya posed to her baby was in preventing the newborn metabolic screenings, so I can not imagine why you would put a healthy newborn with an apparently loving family into an already overburdened fostercare system anyway.
There is tremendous irony in the fact that you took away a 6 week old baby and placed him in foster care to "protect" him from his parents, but you would not allow his mother to feed him the most perfect food for babies, which ultimately protects him from numerous illnesses.
Again, I'm not commenting on the politics behind the newborn testing or the Anaya's religious beliefs, but I do believe you made a terrible error in preventing that mother from nursing her baby.

Sincerely,
Liberty Claar-Pressley


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## 13Sandals (Sep 22, 2006)

I'm surprised this isn't highlighted on the mothering home page. such a disgrace - do we have informed medical consent in this country or not. kudos for writing the judge...all who live in that state should be writing their reps..


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## brittneyscott (Mar 14, 2006)

Thats awful! I can't believe a judge would do that.


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## p1gg1e (Apr 3, 2004)

the mother in this case has been posting in the lactavist area on this forum ...just FYI


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## MichelleS (May 18, 2005)

This is atrocious. *your letter is great, though*


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## oliveoildog (Jun 16, 2007)

Good for you for writing the letter. This whole story makes me sick in my stomach. Such an abuse of government.







:


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## blessed (Jan 28, 2006)

This is the only time in my memory that I can recall agreeing with Rush Limbaugh on anything.


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## lakesuperiormom (Apr 11, 2007)

this is so disgusting! how do we get that email addy...


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## counterGOPI (Jan 22, 2005)

:


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## kmeyrick (Aug 30, 2006)

That judge should be tarred and feathered. Babies are not tools with which to throw government weight around. They need to return that baby and the judge needs to be taken behind the barn, of which there are plenty in Nebraska!


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## MMomofMany (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks for writing the judge. I am planning to work on both an screening exemption bill and a bill to require that mother's be allowed to nurse on demand even if the child is in foster care as long as the mother has not be proven to be physically dangerous to the child. This judge has made awful decisions before separating a breastfeeding mother from her baby.

Please write to these committee health and human service committee members. If you live in Nebraska, include your address or at least your zip code. This committee has been so hard hearted. It is really going to require a lot of attention to convince them to change on several issues.

[email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected]

Please take the time to write.


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