Sydney: A woman from Australia's New South Wales state on Friday won a legal battle to breastfeed her 11-month-old baby after a Family Court overturned an injunction that banned her from doing so because she got a tattoo.
The 20-year-old was earlier banned by a judge of the Federal Circuit Court from breastfeeding because she had recently been tattooed, ABC reported.
The concern was that she might transmit a blood-borne disease such as hepatitis or HIV to the infant.
The mother was tested and found not to have either disease but Judge Matthew Myers still decided to grant an injunction to stop her breastfeeding her son.
He said there was still an unacceptable risk to the baby because the tests were not conclusive after studying documents from the websites of Hepatitis Australia and the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
The full bench of the Family Court unanimously overturned the decision, finding Judge Myers made the order based on evidence that "should not have been relied upon".
The Family Court also found the injunction by Judge Myers failed to consider the benefits to the baby, both emotionally and physically, of continued breastfeeding and any negative effects of it suddenly stopping.
