A West Boynton mom is now under court orders to let her 4-year-old son be circumcised, or she will be jailed.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen on Friday said Heather Hironimus is in contempt of court for violating a 2012 parenting plan with the boy's father that authorizes the circumcision, and for recently disappearing with the child.
After dad, Dennis Nebus, of Boca Raton, testified he can't find his son, the judge told the mom's just-hired new attorney that she has until 2 p.m. Tuesday to appear in his courtroom with the child or the judge will sign a warrant for her arrest.
Dennis Nebus, of Boca Raton, testifies in a Palm Beach County court hearing. Nebus and the mother of his son are in a court battle over whether the 4-year-old should be circumcised. Nebus wants the procedure done, while the mother, Heather Hironimus, does not. (Carline Jean, Sun Sentinel)
Gillen said it was "reprehensible" that Hironimus — who violated an order to appear in court Friday with the child — has kept the boy's location hidden from the father since Feb. 20, as he was making arrangements with a Broward doctor to remove the child's foreskin.
"I will allow her to avoid incarceration or get out of jail if she signs the consent to the procedure," Gillen told attorney Thomas Hunker, who said he doesn't know where his client is.
The judge also ordered the media not to release the name of the child, and also asked reporters to be "sensitive" about identifying the parents, "Not in deference to me, but in deference to the protection of the individuals involved."
Attorneys for the Sun Sentinel filed an emergency motion seeking to vacate the order as unconstitutional. A different circuit judge, Moses Baker Jr., denied the motion, ruling it did not fit the definition of an emergency because it didn't involve "matters of life and death or instances of irreparable harm."
The high-profile court battle between the parents has attracted an army of special interest groups opposed to circumcision. These so-called "intactivists" have mounted a social media campaign and staged protests outside medical offices in Plantation and West Boynton, and on Friday, outside the county courthouse in Delray Beach.
David Wilson, the Cocoa Beach-based founder of a group called Stop Infant Circumcision Society, has been following the case and was quick to blast the judge's ruling.
"This child is healthy and happy and doesn't want his [penis] cut as his dad has told him he was going to do," Wilson said. "It is utter insanity for our courts to order the sexual mutilation of this child."
Gillen Friday said Hironimus had willfully violated the parenting plan — which she initially agreed to — that made the father responsible for arranging the circumcision.
The judge also said the mom had worked with the circumcision opposition groups to have her child's photos and name "plastered all over the Internet" in a "direct, contemptous violation of this court's orders."
After a state appellate court in December held up Gillen's earlier ruling enforcing the parenting plan, the judge instructed Hironimus and Nebus to "protect the child from any exploitation" by making efforts to "hide and/or conceal from the public, the child's identity and his relation to the legal proceedings between the parties."
The father said he decided to pursue the circumcision in December 2013 when the boy was 3, after noticing his son was urinating on his leg. The father on Friday said the boy's pediatrician had diagnosed a condition called phimosis, which prevents retraction of the foreskin.
In May, Judge Gillen ordered the mother to comply with the signed plan and circumcision, and he warned her not to tell her son she was against the procedure.
Nebus said the mother has frightened the boy.
"My son has mentioned things to me that he's scared to have his penis cut off," he testified Friday.
The mother has argued the circumcision is not medically necessary, and she challenged Gillen's May order in the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach. The appellate court upheld Gillen's decision without comment.
Attorneys for both the mother and father have since filing competing court pleadings requesting that the judge rule in their favor. The mother last month filed a request for an injunction to block the circumcision, which was immediately denied.
"There is no reason this case has to have gone this far, under these circumstances, drawing this much attention to a little boy," Gillen said Friday. "There is just no reason."
The most recent federal statistics indicate circumcision is waning in popularity across the country, but a national pediatricians' group says the health benefits of the procedure for newborn males are greater than the risks.
During the hearing, Gillen also endorsed circumcision, saying males who have had it performed were virtually protected from getting penile cancer, and had less of a chance of getting sexually-transmitted diseases. The judge also noted the procedure is "very, very safe" for someone the boy's age.
"I would like to facilitate the surgery for my son," Nebus told the judge, adding that he's received death threats over his intentions.
The father testified that opponents have also threatened and staged protests against two doctors who had agreed to circumcize his son. The procedure has yet to be scheduled.
Nebus said the boy's mother told him she's "going to do whatever she can to stop it."
May L. Cain, the father's attorney, said it's clear "there is an ongoing crime being committed here by the mother, which is an interference to a custody order of this court."
Hunker, the mom's attorney, said he was retained only on Thursday and was limited in his ability to argue on her behalf. The judge Friday excused her previous attorney, Taryn Sinatra, who had cited differences with Hironimus.
"I'm at a loss here because I don't have my client," Hunker told the judge, promising to try to find her and get her back into court.
After the hearing, he told a reporter, "We're just concerned with the child's physical, mental, and emotional well-being."