A mother from Michigan, USA, was sentenced to seven days in prison for refusing to comply with a judge's order to vaccinate her son.
Rebecca Bredow refused to vaccinate her 9-year-old son, despite initially agreeing with her father to do so. The ex-husband was given temporary custody in order to give the child the vaccine, according to the BBC.
Parents in Michigan have the legal right not to vaccinate or delay their children's immunizations due to personal beliefs. In Bredow's case, the case was based on agreements she had made with her ex-husband in November 2016 to give the boy the necessary vaccinations.
The mother of two was convicted Wednesday of contempt of court after ignoring a court ruling last week that provided for the child to be vaccinated.
She and her ex-husband decided when the child was born that they would delay getting the vaccines. The couple divorced in 2008 and, according to ABC News, were sharing custody and the father wanted the child to get the vaccines.
The judge ruled that although the mother had basic custody, "the father also has a say in the case". The mother argued in court that the vaccination contradicted her beliefs. "I would rather be behind bars for what I believe, than give in to something I do not believe in," he said.
Source: Newsbeast