(The Center Square) – Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth celebrates a win for new parents as President Donald Trump signs the bipartisan BABES Enhancement Act, aimed at ensuring the Transportation Security Administration properly handles breast milk and breastfeeding supplies.
Breastfeeding advocates say the law tackles a long-standing problem of lost milk and travel stress for working mothers. Ann Davis of La Leche League USA called TSA checkpoint issues “widespread and unpredictable,” depending on agents’ knowledge.
“It was definitely a hit-and-miss issue,” Davis told The Center Square. “Women would read the instructions on the TSA website, print them out, hand them to officers, and the officers would ignore them.”
Davis said mothers traveling for work or family reasons routinely reported their breast milk being mishandled, confiscated, or forced to be thrown out during screening. For working parents who pump regularly, the losses could be significant.
“They would pump milk all week just to maintain their supply so they could continue breastfeeding when they got home,” she said. “And then they would end up having to pitch the milk because the TSA agent contaminated it or refused to let it through. It was a really big problem, a lot of suffering and loss for those families.”
While 80% of mothers start breastfeeding, rates drop to 30-40% by six months due to workplace and travel challenges. Advocates say improving airport policies can help more mothers continue.
On social media Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, called the Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Enforcement Act a “huge win for families.”
Davis noted that even the U.S. military has long had clear protocols for service members traveling with breast milk, highlighting the gap in commercial travel practices.
“If the military can do it, why can’t commercial airlines?” Davis said. “It’s just a lack of education and training.”
While complaints from formula-feeding families are less common, Davis said women traveling with water or formula can also face challenges under the TSA’s 3-ounce liquid rule. Still, she emphasized that mothers traveling without their babies while carrying only breast milk and a pump were most likely to face suspicion.
“Anybody who values families and children should want parents to be able to breastfeed as long as they can,” she said. “This shouldn’t be partisan.”
Republican Congresswoman and sponsor of the federal legislation Anna Paulina Luna, R-Flordia, said, “As a mother, I understand how stressful traveling with a young child can already be.”
