A US mother has been sent to prison for refusing to allow her nine-year-old son to be injected with a dangerous cocktail of vaccinations.
Rebecca Bredow was sentenced to seven days in jail by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Karen McDonald, who accused Bredow of refusing to comply with court orders for her to allow her son to receive all of his missing vaccinations within one week.
ABC News reports: The mother of two told the judge that she takes “full responsibility” for her actions and that vaccinations go against her beliefs.
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In an interview with ABC News last week, Bredow said that she would “absolutely” rather go to jail than allow her 9-year-old son to receive the swath of vaccinations in one week.
“I would rather go to jail for standing up for what I believe in than vaccinating my child,” Bredow told ABC News, adding that she believes the decision to vaccinate a child is a “personal choice.”
Bredow is the primary caregiver for the boy, though she shares legal custody with his father, her ex-husband Jason Horne. Bredow said that when her son was much younger, she and Horne originally agreed to space out vaccinations for him. She said that she was most concerned about the grouping of vaccinations.
The state of Michigan allows parents to opt-out of certain vaccines for non-medical reasons. The American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes the safety and importance of vaccines and recommends a schedule of when to provide them.
Last week, the court ordered Bredow to bring the boy’s vaccinations up to date according to the recommended schedule and said she had one week to comply.
“Now I have four-and-a-half business days … to fully vaccinate, they want me to bring him up to the fullest extent medically allowed, which would be up to eight vaccines, in one dose,” Bredow told ABC News. “This is supposed to be done before 9 a.m. on Wednesday.”
“God forbid if he were to be injured by a vaccine,” she continued. “I would have to take care of him.”
The divorced parents have been embroiled in a legal battle over several matters, according to Horne’s attorney Benton G. Richardson, the dispute over vaccinations for their son is one among them.
Horne told the courts he now wants the boy to receive all of the vaccinations recommended by his age and the court ruled in his favor.
Court documents obtained by ABC News state that Bredow was first asked to have the immunizations provided to her son in November 2016.
While Bredow serves her seven-day prison sentence, the child will be in the care of Horne. Bredow will be back in court next week at a time to be determined.
