A nurse-in was held today today at ABC studios across the county to protest comments made by Barbara Walters and the general anti-breastfeeding attitude of the hosts of “The View”. In New York the protesters nursed their children outside of ABC headquarters just a few blocks from where “The View” is filmed. The protest was prompted by comments made by Barbara Walters that breastfeeding is “gross and disgusting” in addition the hosts of the view celebrated the fact that their youngest host’s 6 week old baby had been switched to formula.

This is not the first time the show has come under fire. Anti-breastfeeding comments made on the show last year were met with such backlash that they did a special breastfeeding episode.

Organizers of the nurse-in saw it as an opportunity for women to show that nursing is normal, natural and nurturing. They also emphasize that it is the child’s right to nurse. The American Academy of Pediatrics along with the World Health Organization recommends that women breastfeed for the first six moths of their child’s life.

Barbara Walters, creator, executive producer and co-host of ABC’s “The View,” gave this statement Monday afternoon.

“One of the major assets of ‘The View’ is that we discuss many sides to a question. In the case of breast feeding, we are totally supportive if an individual wants to breast feed her child.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is breast feeding her daughter, Grace. What we discussed was a recent airplane trip I had taken, when a man sitting next to me in a cramped space became uncomfortable when a women exposed her breast to feed her baby. It was a particular circumstance and we are surprised that it warrants a protest.”

This statement did not address the additional anti-breastfeeding comments of her co-hosts.

The protests were not limited to NYC but also took place in Charlotte North Carolina, Cleveland Ohio and Tucson Arizona.