A MOTHER was told by a judge that she wasn't allowed to see her son until accepting the Covid-19 vaccine.
39-year-old Rebecca Firlit, who lives in Chicago, was left gobsmacked after joining a virtual court hearing with her ex-husband that she thought would be centred around child support.
It's understood that the child's father, who is vaccinated, was concerned that by refusing to get protected, Rebecca was putting their 11-year-old son's health at risk.
As such, Cook County Judge James Shapiro made the unprecedented decision to ban her from seeing her child until she got her jabs.
The decision has since been revoked after an appeal, with Rebecca's attorney arguing that Judge Shapiro had "very much exceeded his judicial authority."
"I’m extremely happy, I'm going to see my son right now," Rebecca told the Chicago Sun-Times following the overturn.
She claims that she's had adverse reactions to vaccines in the past and that her doctor has advised her not to get the Covid-19 vaccine, information which apparently wasn't relevant in Judge Shapiro's eyes.
"One of the first things he asked me... was whether or not I was vaccinated," Ms Firlit revealed.
"I was confused because [the hearing] was just supposed to be about expenses and child support. I asked him what it had to do with the hearing, and he said, 'I am the judge, and I make the decisions for your case'."
Rebecca said she was only able to speak to her son over the phone for a while, which broke her heart.
"I talk to him every day. He cries, he misses me. I send him care packages," she said.
Following the overturn, Ms Firlit stressed that parents shouldn't stand for the courts interfering with families and taking children away from mothers and fathers.
"I feel like this will resonate with people because this is how things will go if we don’t speak up. Dividing families, taking children from their parents, we have to speak out to make sure this is not the new thing.
"Unfortunately, I had to be the first person that this happened to, but parents aren’t going to stand for that."
See More: Covid-19 Vaccine, Mother, US, Vaccine
