A woman who fled with her son while fighting to prevent his circumcision will face imprisonment if she does n't return and allow the surgery to proceed , a judge ruled Friday . In a stinging rebuke of the mother , Heather Hironimus , Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen said she had successfully dragged out a legal battle and was 'reprehensible ' for going missing with the boy and for conduct that has put the 4-year-old in a public spotlight 'making him an object of curiosity and worse ' . He found her in contempt and demanded she appear in court on Tuesday with the child or he would command police to find her . Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen said on Friday that Heather Hironimus could escape jail if she appears before him on Tuesday with the child . She will only avoid jail on the contempt charge , Gillen said , if she signs paperwork necessary to schedule the procedure that she initially agreed to in a legal document . 'This child has been placed in a light that provides much too much scrutiny for a little boy , ' the judge said . ' I blame no one but the mother for that . ' It was the latest dramatic turn in a case nearly as old as the boy himself , and one that has become a rallying cry for 'intactivists , ' the circumcision opponents who say removing the foreskin is barbaric . Though Hironimus gave her blessing to circumcision in the parenting plan she reached with the boy 's father , Dennis Nebus of Boca Raton , she later changed her mind , leading to a long court battle . Circuit and appellate judges have sided with the father . The father has called circumcision 'just the normal thing to do . ' The mother said it 's not worth the risks . After Hironimus , of Boynton Beach , refused to sign papers to allow the circumcision and after protesters spotlighted the case , potential surgeons have backed out of circumcising the boy . Both Nebus and the boy 's doctors have received death threats . Meantime , the mother has stoked the protests and publicity , despite a court order not to , said May Cain , an attorney for the father , who appeared in court . 'She 's willing to flee with him and plaster him all over the Internet and do anything she can , ' Nebus said . 'She 's stated that she 's going to do everything that she can to stop it . ' Nebus said he has not seen his son since Feb. 19 . Thomas Hunker , the attorney for Hironimus , said he did not know where his client was . After the hearing , Hunker said 'We 're concerned for the child 's wellbeing and emotional condition . ' Though circumcision rates have fallen in the U.S. , a majority of boys still undergo the procedure , though a bubbling movement against it has developed . The CDC says medical evidence shows benefits clearly outweigh risks , and that circumcision can lower a male 's risk of sexually transmitted diseases , penile cancer and urinary tract infections . Protesters in December in Florida , who are known as 'intactivists ' have made the four-year-old 's case their cause celebre and organized a series of protests .
Heather Hironimus could escape jail if she appears before a judge on Tuesday with the child . The four-year-old boy 's father , Dennis Nebus , testified he last saw his son on February 19 . He said he was in bed when he heard screaming and woke up to find his daughter missing from their home near San Diego.