A new law which would require state certification of lactation consultants has been put on hold. The law, which was scheduled to go into effect yesterday, requires lactation consultants to be licensed by the state, involving college-level courses, hands-on training and at least 300 hours of supervised clinical work. 46 US States do not require licensure for lactation consultants.
A lawsuit filed today by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm based in Virginia, says that the requirement would keep unlicensed lactation professionals from being able to do activities required by their jobs and violates their right to work. The institute says that Georgia’s law could put over 800 lactation consultants out of work. The lawsuit was filed against Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose office is responsible for overseeing and enforcing the licensing requirement on behalf of a lactation consultant at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, or ROSE, which aims to increase the number of women of color who breastfeed their babies.
Kemp’s office agreed not to enforce the law while the lawsuit is pending.
