Brace yourself for one of the most absurd anti-women's rights legislation of our times. Thanks to a recently passed law requiring women to breastfeed their babies for at least two years, men in the United Arab Emirates can now actually SUE their wives if they don't. Have these people lost their minds?
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The idea behind this retrograde law is supposed to be to encourage more mothers to nurse their babies because, as we've all been told ad nauseum, breast is best. And yet, it would seem to me that this law would have the opposite effect.
It's no secret that not all women can breastfeed, so the law claims it will solve this issue by providing them with wet nurses, even though it's not known how this need will be determined. This is extremely important because while some moms can't breastfeed for specific health reasons, sometimes it's because they can't produce enough milk, because it's painful or simply because they've tried everything and they've given up in frustration.
I know breastfeeding is easy for a lot of moms, but not all of us are so lucky. Having the added pressure of being punished by law seems utterly criminal, especially because we're talking about two long years! I mean, I would've been screwed if I lived there because even though I tried my best, I barely made it to one year with my son.
While I believe wholeheartedly in the benefits of breastfeeding, I'm against the idea of forcing mothers to do so under the threat of legal retaliation. But, above all, I believe this is an extremely personal decision that needs to be made by each mother and not imposed by some ridiculous law!
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