Oakland County mom in court battle over not vaccinating her child

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WJBK) - Another Detroit area mom was in court Monday in a legal battle over refusing to vaccinate her child.

A group of parents rallied in support of her outside the courthouse while Oakland County Judge Karen McDonald heard testimony from the mom, Lori Matheson, why she objected a referee's order that allowed Dad to vaccinate their child.

"I started reading literature on vaccinations," she said. "When I started reading them that's when I found out there are some vaccinations that are cultured in aborted fetal cells."

Matheson says it violates her religious believes.  Many supporters outside the court showed up in support of her. 

"According to the CDC's website, what's inside vaccines is human embryonic lung cell cultures, guinea pig cell cultures, human diploid cell cultures, bovine calf serum, formaldehyde, the list goes on," said  Tammy Sand, Michigan For Vaccine Choice. "Is that in the best interest of the child?"

But Beaumont pediatrician, Dr. Daniel Schnaar, denies Sand's claim saying that vaccinations are safe.

But are vaccinations made from aborted fetuses?

"If I had to testify I would say that vaccines are not made from aborted fetuses," he said.

Matheson also says that the child has a family history of auto immune disorders, which may be accelerated by vaccinations.

"There's always been a concern if there's a family history or if a child has an auto immune disorder like rheumatoid arthritis if getting vaccines could somehow make that worse," Schnaar said. "The present evidence would be that it does not."

Now judges are not doctors but in order to make a medical decision, a judge is going to have to have some medical testimony. So far in this case, there has not.

"This is a court, we have rules," Judge McDonald said. "I was expecting you to bring forth a medical professional so that the court could make a meaningful determination."

The hearing was adjourned until Thursday.