(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Millions of new mothers who need to pump breast milk at work will now have the right to do so under federal law.

The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) For Nursing Mothers Act goes into effect on Friday, April 28, requiring organizations to provide time and space for working mothers.

A law like this was already passed in 2010 through the Break Time for Nursing Mothers provision, yet the wording of that legislation failed to cover one in four working women. This means nearly nine million working women were denied, what advocates are calling, a basic human right.

The PUMP Act expands the right to a reasonable break time and a private non-bathroom space to millions of breastfeeding employees to pump during the workday to agriculture workers, nurses, teachers, truck and taxi drivers, home care workers, managers, and more.

“Having the ability to pump in the workplace that’s not a bathroom stall, having protected time to pump, is a basic human right,” said Andrew Ippolito, CEO of SimpliFed, a baby feeding support company.

Colorado Springs mother, Jessica Marshall, would like to breastfeed her child for a full year. In order to do that she needs to pump three times during her work hours.

“It’s super important to keep a really consistent schedule. So, I pump at 9:00, 12:00, and 3:00, and if I don’t keep that schedule… your milk supply will drop,” said Marshall.

At work, Marshall has her own office where she has a private non-bathroom space to pump. But, if she didn’t, she says would not be able to breastfeed her child for longer than a few months. Marshall says the two main aspects are time consumption and the environment.

“It’s not just like okay, I’m going to pump… You have to have milk jars or bags… something to plug into the wall… if you don’t have that all set up, it just takes a lot of time,” said Marshall. “The other piece of it is that your milk is really affected by… how stressed you are. A lot of times when those environments are not very conducive, you can see that your milk supply will start to drop.”

Breast milk for infants has numerous health and growth benefits, but on top of that, Marshall says nursing her baby allows her to create a connection with her child.

“Pumping is not fun. I don’t like to do it, but… I’m willing to sacrifice or go through the things to pump at work so that I can… nurse my baby… It’s our special time,” said Marshall.

Advocates of this bill say that mothers shouldn’t have to choose between advancing their careers and providing for their children.

“When women have to fight for this right, it leaves them in a really terrible place. And frankly, this is what causes women to leave the workforce… This is so, so important because it allows parents to have that right and not have to fight for it in the workplace,” said Ippolito.

The PUMP Act was officially signed into law in December 2022 with bi-partisan support, and will officially go into effect on April 28.