Parental custody rights revoked from unvaccinated ex-wife
FOX 32 TV News report by reporter Dane Placko details how a Cook County Judge revoked the parenting rights of a Chicago mother because she refused to get vaccinated. The FOX 32 TV News report from Placko has been re-reported by news stations and media across the country
By Ray Hanania
A Chicago mother had her parenting rights revoked by a Cook County judge on August 10 because she was not vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to a FOX 32 TV News story.
Rebecca Firlit, according to FOX 32 TV News, was participating in a child support hearing via Zoom with her ex-husband and Judge James Shapiro when the judge asked about the mother’s COVID vaccination status.
The father is vaccinated and has custody of the couple’s 11-year-old son.
When Ms. Firlit told the judge that she did not take the vaccination saying she had adverse reactions to other vaccines and vaccines, the judge ordered that she be stripped of her parental rights until she receives the vaccine.
Although more than 52 percent or 173 million Americans have received both vaccinations, while 62 percent or 204 million Americans have received at least one of the double vaccinations, many of the remaining Americans have been anti-vaxxers arguing that receiving the vaccinations should be a choice and not mandated.
Ms. Firlit’s attorney denounced the decision, according to FOX TV’s news report by reporter Dan Placko, which has been picked up but news media around the country. The attorney said that the judge’s decision was “wrong.” She said that Judge Shapiro did not have the authority to make that ruling.
But Chicago attorney Jeffery Leving, who is representing the father and was interviewed by Placko, when asked about the ruling, told FOX 32 TV News, said the decision reflected concern for the child’s health.
“There are children who have died because of COVID. I think every child should be safe, and I agree that the mother should be vaccinated,” Leving told FOX 32 TV News.
Data shows that more than 637,000 Americans have died after contracting the COVID virus during the 20-month long pandemic. More than 38 million Americans have been infected. There have been more than 26,400 deaths in Illinois, as of data August 28, 2021.
Although the largest age group who have died because of the COVID virus, more than two-thirds, have been seniors 65 years and older. Only a small percentage of people under the age of 18 have died from coronavirus infection during the pandemic which began in December 2019. But, Leving argued, “every life matters.”
Asked about the potential health risks, Leving said that it “is always better to be cautious with young people than to take a chance.”
The Pfizer vaccine has received FDA approval while vaccines by Moderna and John & Johnson are expected to receive FDA approval soon.
The case is now before the Illinois Appellate court.
Leving concentrates in Father’s Rights at www.DadsRights.com. To view the FOX 32 TV News video story, click this link.
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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