Lactation Spaces for Veteran Moms Act

Plain-English Summary: Lactation Spaces for Veteran Moms Act

This bill focuses on improving facilities at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) locations to better support breastfeeding mothers. Specifically, it would require the VA to provide designated, private spaces where women veterans and female VA employees who are nursing mothers can breastfeed or pump breast milk while visiting or working at VA facilities. The goal is to make VA locations more accommodating and welcoming for women.

The bill primarily affects two groups: women veterans who visit VA medical centers, clinics, or other VA facilities to receive healthcare or other services, and female VA employees who need a private space to express breast milk during their workday. Currently, access to appropriate lactation spaces at VA facilities may be inconsistent or limited, and this bill would set a clearer standard requiring those spaces to be available.

This legislation addresses a broader ongoing effort to make the VA — which has historically been designed around the needs of male veterans — more accessible and responsive to the growing population of women veterans. By passing the Senate with unanimous consent, the bill received bipartisan support and now awaits action in the House of Representatives before it could be signed into law.