Mainly, I’m posting to try to remind people that there isn’t really a black-and-white between “safe” and “not-safe” here, and that there really are competing priorities. Since the USA as a whole (and Australia’s getting there) has this culture of “Formula/bottlefeeding is just as good”, breastfeeding seems to have completely disappeared as an actual consideration in emergency situations.

Further example: New Orleans after the hurricane. There was a focus on getting formula into relief centres, which is fine as far as it goes, but was anyone going in assisting with relactation and expressing advice? Even tiny babies, around a week old, were being fed formula. Bloody dangerous in dirty-water, crowded situations.

This is a great point, I had to stop and really think about this case all over again when I read that line of yours. I have mixed feelings about this particular instance generally. Just trying to sort it out inh my head – clearly the women are victims in this sect too, not just the children, but they’re adults, if they can’t participate in the rescue of these children from abuse then their rights to their children come second to their children’s rights to safety from abuse.