Breastfeeding mothers may soon claim exemption from jury service if a house bill referred to the state senate Judiciary Committee makes it’s way into Michigan law in 2012.

HB 4691 makes an exception for a breastfeeding mother who provides a letter from a physician, lactation consultant or certified midwife verifying she is nursing.

Evelyn Moses, 39, was a nursing mother in 2009 when she got a jury summons from the 44th District Court in Royal Oak.

Moses told the Detroit Free Press that when she called the courthouse, a clerk told her that breastfeeding wasn't reason enough to be exempt. Only after appearing in person with a doctor's note did she get to postpone her service until her baby was weaned.

Royal Oak attorney Mike Steinberg doesn't care for the proposed legislation, even if it is well-intentioned.

“If we start watering down who can serve, there will be a clamor from others who will want exceptions,” Steinberg said. “The next thing you know it will be people who wear red dresses. It’s a step toward diluting the jury pool.”

Steinberg says the constitution envisioned a true cross-section of society serving on juries.

“If a woman is capable of pumping, she’s capable of serving on a jury,” he said.

What do you think?

Are you inclined to agree that such a law would lead to other groups asking for exemptions?

Do you believe allowing an automatic nursing exemption denies a defendant a true cross-section of his or her peers on the jury that determines a verdict?

Or is this just a common-sense thing: Nursing mothers shouldn’t have to be away from their babies, and shouldn't be forced to pump?