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By Women's Law Association • 12 years ago

LSAC Refuses to Accommodate Nursing Mother

(cross-posted from http://hlsorgs.com/wla/blog/)

Remember that morning of the LSAT? Chewing on the end of your pencil as they passed out score sheets? Bubbling in those logic game answers with one eye on the clock?

Imagine doing all that with milk leaking onto your paper.

What Happened What You Can Do Sample Email Template HLS Moms Network Chair’s Email to LSAC

This past Saturday, one lactating mother took the LSAT without a break to express milk or breastfeed. Despite early and persistent requests from this future law student, MomsRising, the ACLU Womens Rights Project and others, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) refused to allow Ashley an extended break time to pump (express milk) in the middle of the LSAT. The test has only one 15 minute break during the test, not nearly long enough to set up a breast pump in a private space, express milk, clean up, and store the milk (not to mention maybe, oh, use the restroom or have a quick snack).

Mothers should not have to choose between breastfeeding and going to law school - the choice the LSAC is effectively leaving Ashley with by hampering her ability to take the LSAT. The LSAC’s refusal to accommodate Ashley harkens back to the Bradwell era, where the Supreme Court denied Myra Bradwell the right to apply for the Illinois bar. Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130 (1873). Ashley’s access to the legal profession, like Myra Bradwell’s, is effectively denied (or at the very least curtailed) ...