Last week,  the subject of my weekly column was about the proposed policy to ban infant formula samples in Massachusetts hospitals (thereby making it the first state to implement such a ban). This raised serious concerns for me as special interest groups continue to try to legislate morality on both sides, however, this particular argument undoubtably comes from the left. America is in an ideological civil war between the advocation of socialism/communism and a the freedom in which this country was founded on.

Also last week, The Boston Globe reported that Mitt Romney had gained a victory over stopping the formula prohibition, for now…

In a victory for Governor Mitt Romney , the state’s public health commissioner announced yesterday that hospital maternity wards in Massachusetts can continue to hand out gift bags with samples of infant formula. Last winter, the Public Health Council had imposed a ban on the bags, but then, at Romney’s urging, it reversed its decision and ordered further study.

The five months of debate over gift bags with formula crystallized scientific and political issues regarding both breast-feeding and the Public Health Council, which governs the state Department of Public Health.

To public health specialists and powerful members of the Legislature, the episode demonstrates the perils of politics intruding into healthcare.

The battle in keeping your sacred right to make sensible parenting decisions that are best for your family are still on trial. The decision could easily be over-turned as Democrats step in to reorganize the Public Health Council of Mass. to make it more politically and special interest driven. This should concern breastfeeding advocates wanting to prohibit moms from receiving formula in hospitals. There is a very small step between formula prohibition and perhaps making something that they cherish, perhaps the lawful ability to breastfeed in public, and put that on trial with a panel of let’s say, formula manufacturers. What makes one acceptable parenting decision better than someone elses acceptable parenting decision?? Where are breastfeeding advocates telling me what I should or shouldn’t be doing with my breasts?? Why are they trying to create policy and legislature that forces their political beliefs on me??

Government is overstepping their bounds here and even though it may feel like a victory to moms that think everyone should breastfeed, they should be careful what they wish for.

Quite frankly, it makes me feel totally violated. Formula feeding moms need to start sticking up for themselves and making a stink over their rights too, otherwise you can lay down and allow extremists to make your decisions and treat you as if you are too stupid and ignorant to make good choices. It’s insulting and nobody should tolerate it.

Now the Massachusetts government overturned the Govenors authority to appoint people to the Public Health Council in efforts to try to create a political climate where the government can and will make parenting decisions for you.  First we ban formula from hospitals, next it will be available by prescription only and then the women who truly need it will have to justify her actions in the court of zealotry and politcal scrutiny. If you disagree with the government, well then, you might just have to pay the price and be treated like the controlled peasant that you’re allowing yourself to be. Does this not concern anyone? Are we that lazy that we are just going to lie down and take it and conform to injustices just because we don’t have the will to fight back?

Thank goodness for people like Mitt Romney, otherwise this just might set a precedence that could lead this country down a slippery slope that further errodes democracy.

In April, Romney vetoed the proposal to change the composition of the Public Health Council, but the Legislature overrode him.

A Romney spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said yesterday that the governor still objects to the future changes in the council’s composition, but that the administration will leave further consideration of the issue to the next administration, which will be in place when the shift happens.

“Our view is that it is clearly unconstitutional in that it transfers the governor’s appointing authority over executive branch functions to unaccountable private organizations,” Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail message.

Health Care for All , which advocates equal access to medical services throughout the state, will have a seat at the council’s table next year.

Its executive director, John McDonough , who spent a dozen years in the Legislature, said that starting with the administration of William F. Weld , the Public Health Council has been increasingly subject to political pressures.

“The appointees seem to have been appointed more for connections and political favors and less for the experience and talent they bring to bear,” McDonough said.

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