Heather Hironimus, a young mother from West Boynton, Florida, faces imprisonment for making-off with her son to avoid the boy receiving a "necessary circumcision" to cure his rare medical condition.
The father of the four-year old boy, Dennis Nebus of Boca Raton, told Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen he couldn't find his son and believes Hironimus had hidden the boy in an unknown location since Feb. 20.
Gillen said Hironimus has until 2:00 pm on March 10 to appear in his courtroom with the child or he'd sign a warrant for her arrest and issue a custodial sentence for her son. Hironimus violated an order to appear in court on March 6 with the child.
The judge had earlier found Hironimus in contempt of court and attacked what he said was her "reprehensible" behavior.
The high-profile court battle between the parents has drawn an army of special interest groups called "intactivists" opposed to circumcision. They attacked the judge's ruling to arrest Hironimus.
At the core of the case are the parent's differing definitions of a necessary circumcision.
The child has a condition known as phimosis that prevents retraction of the foreskin. The father decided to a circumcision of his son in December 2013. In May 2014, Gillen ordered the mother to comply with the signed plan and circumcision.
The mother, however, argued the circumcision wasn't medically necessary, said the Sun Sentinel. She challenged Gillen's May order in the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach but the appellate court upheld Gillen's decision without comment.
Since then, lawyers for the parents have filed competing court pleadings requesting the judge rule in their favor.
"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 last week. "There is just no reason."
The mother last month filed a request for an injunction to block the circumcision, which was immediately denied.