Pregnancy and Parenting
Pregnancy & Parenting
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”), 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq., is a Federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex—including pregnancy and parental status—in educational programs and activities.
Title IX includes protection from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, or related conditions, including recovery. Title IX also ensures the right to take medically necessary leave and to be free of harassment, intimidation, or other discrimination because of pregnancy-related conditions.
Support for pregnant or breastfeeding parents is available at UAA.
If you are seeking a pregnancy accommodation, please submit a pregnancy accommodation request form.
UAA Pregnancy Accommodation Request Form
Here are some things you should know about your rights:
Classes and School Activities – your school will:
- Allow you to continue participating in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant.
- Allow you to choose whether you want to participate in special instructional programs or classes for pregnant students.
- Allow you to participate in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant and not require you to submit a doctor’s note unless your school requires a doctor’s note from all students who have a physical or emotional condition requiring treatment by a doctor.
- Provide you with reasonable adjustments, like a larger desk, elevator access, or allowing you to make frequent trips to the restroom, when necessary because of your pregnancy.
Excused Absences and Medical Leave – your school will:
- Excuse absences due to pregnancy or childbirth for as long as your doctor says it is necessary.
- Allow you to return to the same academic and extracurricular status as before your medical leave began, which should include giving you the opportunity to make up any work missed while you were out.
- Ensure that teachers understand the Title IX requirements related to excused absences/medical leave. Your teacher may not refuse to allow you to submit work after a deadline you missed because of pregnancy or childbirth.
- Provide pregnant students with the same special services it provides to students with temporary medical conditions.
Harassment Prevention – your school will:
Lactation Spaces
You can breastfeed your baby on campus in any location you are “otherwise authorized to be” – this means you are welcome to breastfeed in any public campus location. If you prefer more privacy, you can use the UAA Mamava Lactation Pod located in the Student Union, or any of the spaces available to express milk on campus.
In 2017, the University of Alaska Anchorage received an Alaska Workplace Breastfeeding Support Project grant from the State of Alaska's Division of Public Health's Section on Women's, Children's, and Family Health to improve resources for and policies around breastfeeding on campus. Through this grant, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs sponsored the placement of a Mamava Lactation Pod in the Student Union and scholarships to create other lactation spaces on campus.
Spaces available for lactating on campus
- Student Union: The UAA Mamava Lactation Pod is located in the Student Union at the bottom of the stairs near the bookstore. The code for the pod is available at the Student Union Information Desk.
- Consortium Library: Study rooms at the UAA/APU Consortium Library can be reserved in advance or accessed as a walk-in – ask at the Circulation Desk, email Lorelei Sterling (lsterling@alaska.edu) or call (907) 786-1827.
- School of Nursing: Located within the RRANN suite, HSB 105B. Easily accessible M-F 8-5. This door locks automatically when closed so please leave it open as you leave. Contact RaLyssa Harris, RRANN Coordinator, at (907)786-6944 or rntaylor@alaska.edu if you have questions.
- Employees may also negotiate the use of other private, non-bathroom spaces screened from view with their supervisor or the UAA Human Resources Department. These spaces will meet the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act rules about break time for nursing mothers. See "Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA" (pdf).
Other options for pumping or breastfeeding
We recognize campus is large and time to pump is scarce – if you are unable to access the spaces suggested on this page, employees should speak with their supervisors and students should speak with their professors about accessing a closer space. Students may also request support by contacting the Dean of Students Office who will help them find an acceptable convenient location. If supervisors or professors are not able to provide a space, we suggest reaching out to the building manager who may have additional spaces available. See this list of building managers.
UAA and State Policy regarding breastfeeding
UAA policy for employee lactation
There is an official Lactation Accommodation Policy in the Administrative Services Manual maintained by the Human Resources Department. Contact the UAA Human Resources Department to learn more.
UAA policy for student lactation
There is no policy about students pumping or breastfeeding. We encourage students to request the flexibility they need to pump and make use of the lactation spaces available on campus. If a student needs assistance with this, they may contact our office directly.
Alaska Law: Breastfeeding in Public
Alaska Statute 29.25.080 Breastfeeding (1998) declares that “a municipality may not enact an ordinance that prohibits or restricts a woman breast-feeding a child in a public or private location where the woman and child are otherwise authorized to be. In a municipal ordinance, “lewd conduct,” “lewd touching,” “immoral conduct,” “indecent conduct,” and similar terms do not include the act of a woman breast-feeding a child in a public or private location where the woman and child are otherwise authorized to be. Nothing in this section may be construed to authorize an act that is an offense under a municipal ordinance that establishes an offense with elements substantially equivalent to the elements of an offense under AS 11.61.123. This section is applicable to home rule and general law municipalities.”