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Mom gets apology for breastfeeding in church.
BRIGHTON, Mich. – A pastor has apologized to a woman who said she was shamed for breastfeeding inside her church while waiting for her other children to finish Sunday school.
Amy Marchant, 29, of Brighton said she asked for a public apology after she was accused of immodesty and potentially inspiring “lustfulness” in men for nursing her child in mid-June at The Naz church here.
“Of all the places, it is most hurtful when it comes from your own church that you are going to cause guys to lust after you,” Marchant said Thursday.
The church supports and encourages breastfeeding, said Ben Walls Sr., lead pastor of the church more formally known as Brighton Nazarene Church. The Father’s Day incident “had to do with breastfeeding but didn’t.”
Three places are set aside for “those who want a private space” – a lounge outside a restroom specifically created for nursing mothers a decade ago and two other rooms in a children’s area “designated for ladies who want privacy,” he said.
“That is what we want to say. We have nothing against breastfeeding, and we are in favor,” Walls said. “We’re very sorry for the embarrassment and hurt caused when she was asked to cover or use one of those rooms. We apologize for her hurt and embarrassment; that wasn’t the intention.”
Marchant said she had gone to the children’s worship area after the June 17 church service to pick up her 4-year-old twins when her 1-year-old daughter “was getting fussy and asking to nurse.”
“I sat down on a bench and decided to nurse her like always,” she said. “I don’t use a cover.”
But when Marchant got home, she said she had a private Facebook message from a woman who is a church leader.
“She told me to cover up, use an empty classroom, or go down to the main worship area, to part of the bathroom but which has a nursing area attached to it,” Marchant said. “It wasn’t presented as an option. She told me to do one of those three things from now on.”
Marchant said she was shocked that shaming women who are breastfeeding still happens anywhere, especially in her own church, where she was “supposed to feel safe.”