A new federal law, quietly passed late last month in Washington and signed by President Donald Trump, will require small airports in the U.S. — including Cape Girardeau’s — to have lactation rooms for nursing moms by no later than fiscal year 2023.

The bipartisan Friendly Airports for Mothers (FAM) Improvement Act became law Oct. 30 and Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Katrina Amos says her facility will comply.

“We would do it even if it was not required,” said Amos, who is in the beginning stages of planning for a new terminal.

Last month, Cape Girardeau City Council was presented with the latest strategic planning update on the future for the airport, once known as Harris Field.

“We are hopeful of having a new terminal by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024,” said Amos, a Sikeston, Missouri, native who assumed her current role in January 2019 following the retirement of longtime airport manager Bruce Loy.

FAM Act

The legislation, co-sponsored by female lawmakers Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), was first introduced in 2018.

The bill passed the U.S. Senate in July and the House on Oct. 1, receiving the president’s signature just over a week ago.

The language of the bill mandates “small hub airports to maintain a lactation area for nursing mothers and a baby changing table in at least one men’s and one women’s restroom in each terminal building of the airport.”

Amos said the until the law’s passage, Cape Girardeau’s new terminal plan included a family-style bathroom.

“But the bill requires we go further and provide a safe and private place for women to nurse — and we will do that,” she said.

Duckworth’s idea

The 52-year old Duckworth, a double amputee after the U.S. Army helicopter she was piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2004, has two children — and she holds the distinction of being the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth while serving on Capitol Hill.

Shortly after the birth of Duckworth’s second child, a Senate rule change allowed senators to bring children younger than 1 to the Senate floor to breastfeed.

One day later, Duckworth brought her newborn daughter, Maile, with her during the casting of a vote — making her the first senator to vote while holding a baby.

Awareness raised

Duckworth told her colleagues how difficult traveling is for new mothers.

“When traveling, you’d never be expected to eat your meal in a bathroom stall, yet for many new moms, that’s the reality they face,” she told the Senate in 2018.

“All airports, large, medium and small, can play a role in improving the health of families by supporting breastfeeding travelers,” Duckworth added.

A room for nursing mothers is seen Friday on the first floor of Dempster Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.Jeff Long

Lactation rooms at SEMO

Southeast Missouri State University has had lactation rooms in Dempster Hall and Kent Library since September 2018.

In Dempster, the university modified Room 119 to accommodate three lactation spaces, with two of the three handicapped accessible.

Each space has a chair and a small side table, is lockable for privacy and available for use whenever the building is open.

At Kent Library, there is a single-user space in Room 419, with users having to check out a key at the main floor circulation desk for access.

More recently, Southeast created a single-user lactation area in Academic Hall in AC 211.

The university created the lactation rooms under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex — including pregnancy and parental status – in educational programs and activities.