A Florida woman who fled to avoid the circumcision of her son was arrested Thursday for contempt of court.
Heather
Hironimus went missing with her four-year-old child nearly three months
ago, as her long court battle against the surgery
reached its climax. Though her defenders said she was simply doing what
she could to protect a child portrayed as “scared to death” of the
procedure, a judge issued a scalding rebuke for her refusal to appear in
court, charging her with contempt and issuing an arrest warrant.
Hironimus
and the boy’s father, Dennis Nebus, have been warring since her
pregnancy. They were never married but share custody of their child, and
in a parenting agreement filed in court, the two agreed to the boy’s
circumcision.
The mother later changed her mind, though, giving way to a
long legal battle. Circuit and appellate judges have sided with the
father, but potential surgeons have backed out after failing to get the
mother’s consent and being targeted by anti-circumcision protesters.
Last
month, out of options in state courts, Hunker filed a federal civil
rights complaint on behalf of the child.
Circumcision
rates have fallen in the U.S., but a majority of boys still undergo the
removal of their foreskin. Even so, a bubbling movement of so-called
“intactivists” has made the case a rallying cry against a surgery they
view as barbaric.
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