@OhHolyJesus
So the milk cannot “belong” to a baby unless the baby owns it.
Does the milk for a baby cow belong to the calf? Does the calf own it? Does the cow own it? Or because the farmer owns the cow, does he own it?
I stand by that comment but I would use the language of 'for the baby', as in, the milk from a mother's breast is for the baby, not her husband, the body builder she sells it to, the other woman she sells it to for that woman's baby. It is expressly made for the baby or babies that came from that woman's body. Donating it to other babies who need it via a milk bank is not remotely like selling it to whoever you want.
A baby doesn't own it's mother but relies on his or her mother primarily for food and care (ie survival). The link between them should not be conflated into ownership/commercial activities/capitalist enterprise in my view.
I’m outright rejecting the cow, cows milk and calf plus farmer comparison because women are not cows and that is a sexist and dehumanising comparison.
The milk from a mothers breast is her milk. It is her choice what she wants to do with it. She can stop it, and formula feed. She can breastfeed. She can breastfeed and pump in order to return to work earlier. She can breastfeed and pump to donate some to a milk bank.
Why is the choice of she can breastfeed and pump to sell to a mother mother who cannot breastfeed or pump so morally abhorrent that it should be banned? I can understand why many women would not want to do this, but I think there is no reason why we should regulate a woman’s body to ban this choice from all women.
I think it is abhorrent to tell mothers that the only way they can help another mother out who cannot breastfeed or pump is to give it away for free to a milk bank and the milk bank then owns the milk and can strictly restrict which mothers can then obtain the milk for their babies. Usually, milk banks only allow mothers of very premature babies to access the milk they have.
So why is it ok to tell mothers if you want to help another mother you have to give your milk away for free. As if breastmilk were worthless, and the effort and physical drain to produce erased. Why is that the only acceptable choice? And why is it ok to tell mothers who cannot breastfeed or pump and do not meet milk bank requirements that they don’t get any choice at all but must use formula?
What is so wrong about a mother wanting to help another mother selling her milk at a reasonable price to compensate her for her effort and physical investment? What is so wrong about a mother who cannot breastfeed or pump wanting to have the choice to feed her baby breastmilk like other mothers do? How is this fair?
The idea of banning it comes from a place of wanting to control women’s bodies and their breastmilk. It’s a patriarchal thing to do and as per the usual patriarchal viewpoint, the arguments here are saying it’s for the “protection” of the women selling breastmilk. Protection from what? The ability to be monetarily compensated for something which has great value. Instead these women are to be encouraged to give it away for free.