Parenting choices can be highly contentious. Many parents having strong opinions on everything from what age ear piercings are acceptable to what kind of education their children should have to whether spanking your kid is OK. One issue that is particularly divisive among parents is vaccines, which protects children from diseases like measles and whopping cough but who some have erroneously tied to autism. On Thursday, Kat Von D – who is expecting her first child with Prayers’ Leafar Seyer – talked about her birthing plans (she’s opting for a midwife and doula and wants a water birth) on Instagram and revealed that she doesn’t intend to vaccinate her baby.
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“If you don’t know what it’s like [to] have people around you think you are ridiculous, try being openly vegan,” she wrote in an image that prominently features her baby bump. “And if you don’t know what it’s like to have the entire world openly criticize, judge, throw uninformed opinions, and curse you – try being openly pregnant vegan on Instagram, having a natural, drug-free hoe birth in water with a midwife and doula, who has the intention of raising a vegan child, without vaccinations.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjvkm1gHPPb/?hl=en&taken-by=thekatvond
While the lengthy Insta post came from a place of frustration at those criticizing her parenting choices (and some of them have been wild, like the person who said that having a baby meant she was “undoing” her vegan lifestyle), her post has only further attracted negative comments. Many are surprised that she’s opting not to vaccinate her children. Some are especially troubled that she’s using her huge platform to send this message, which could influence her followers. Others have called her out for endangering children who cannot get vaccines and rely on others to get inoculated so they can stay healthy. The backlash is so great that people aren’t just denouncing her, they’re also talking about boycotting her vegan makeup line. Leafar is also receiving heat for posting anti-vaxxer documentaries onto his Instagram stories.
Check out a few of a few messages directed at the two below:
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https://twitter.com/HlLLSlDEBOYS/status/1004929331221626881