Do not breastfeed in the ward
BREASTFEEDING: Recent Storting representative Anja N. Abusland (Sp) walks with baby on her arm in the Storting, but is not allowed to bring three-month-old Aurora into the hall.
When the country’s leading electorate meets in the Storting hall, the representatives are not allowed to bring newborn children.
This is confirmed by the Storting administration in an e-mail to Klassekampen.
Thus, it is also not open for the representatives to breastfeed while sitting in the hall.
Infants in parliament have created controversy in Denmark, after the Danish parliamentarian Pernille Skipper from the party Enhedslisten earlier this month was thrown out of the Folketing when she took her newborn baby into the hall. Skipper had a child in August and has not taken maternity leave. Instead, she has the child at work.
Have a baby at work
Anja N. Abusland (Sp) from Søgne in Agder is a newly elected parliamentary representative and a new mother. She has Aurora (3 months) with her at work. Abusland tells that she would spend some time getting into things before she goes on leave in a few weeks. Thus, Abusland’s sambuar, who works as a plumber on a daily basis, is also a member of the Storting and takes care of his daughter while the mother is present.
Abusland says she tried to read up on the regulations, but that she did not find guidelines for infants or breastfeeding in the Storting.
– I walked the path through the party group to find out how we could facilitate breastfeeding. When it comes to a Storting meeting, I can go to and from the hall as long as there is no voting. When there’s a vote, I can not leave the Chamber. It does not have a problem yet, because it does not have our long voting, she says and adds:
– But I can see for myself that if there had been a situation where a vote took a long time, and I could not leave the hall, then it could be a problem. Luckily, I take my baby bottle when I pump, but not all babies do. Otherwise I had to apply for an exchange, meaning that someone else met in my city.
Abusland says she sees an argument against allowing infants in the Storting hall, especially to avoid noise, but thinks it should be appropriate to make an exception to the rule.
– Maybe one should look at it a bit. I also would not automatically say no. When I can go to and from the meeting, it is flexible enough. The challenge is first and foremost related to voting. In the work and social committee of which I am a member, it has been completely unproblematic to have my daughter with me, and I can breastfeed her there if I want to, says Abusland.
Should prepare
Abusland thinks the Storting should clarify its guidelines for breastfeeding.
– When it is not clear what is law and what is not law, and where it is right to have children and not, it is easy to think that one should just let it be. If you know in advance that it is legal, then it is easier to plan, she says.
She adds that the Storting is clear that she has the right to take her cohabitant to work and on business trips to facilitate breastfeeding, something she thinks is good.
– Maybe Aurora will be her first word «president», she smiles.
Not encountered the problem
The President of the Storting himself, Eva Kristin Hansen (Labor Party), writes in an e-mail to Klassekampen that his goal is to be very flexible, but that he has never during his 16 years in the Storting experienced it as a problem that it is not law. with infants in the Storting hall.
Hansen also points out that the representatives must not be present in the hall at all times, that there is a right to so-called exchange or to follow the meeting on live streaming. “In that sense, it will always be possible to breastfeed your child,” writes the President of the Storting.
“We have had breastfeeding representatives in the Storting before, and the usual thing in such situations has been for someone else to look after the child in the walking hall, and for it to be breastfed when the mother has finished in the hall. It seems to have worked well “, she concludes.
Breastfeeding during narration
The eviction of Skipper from the Folketing hall has created debate in political Denmark.
Some think she should be allowed to have the infant in the parliament hall, others think the politician knowingly has broken parliament’s rules to get attention. This is not the first time babies are creating controversy in Danish politics. In 2019, conservative Mette Abildgaard was also thrown out of the parliament hall when she took her newborn daughter into the hall.
In Iceland, the Conservative MP Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, on the other hand, received praise when she breastfed her newborn child in 2016 while giving a speech on asylum policy.