Pregnant Mother Gets 10 Months for Being AWOL; Went to Canada in 2006 to Avoid Mil. Duty in Iraq

Private First Class Kimberly Rivera -- a conscientious objector and pregnant mother of four children -- was sentenced to military prison yesterday (April 29, 2013) for refusing to serve in the Iraq War, according to the Democracy Now website.

Rivera, 30, was on a two-week leave from the Army in December 2006 when she decided she would not return to Iraq for a second term of duty. Unfortunately, the U.S. military does not allow a person to leave the service before his or her enlistment date ends.

Seeking asylum in Canada, Rivera and her family fled to Toronto -- thus becoming AWOL (absent without official leave) from the service -- in February 2007, and lived there until their deportation to the United States last year.

On April 29, 2013, a military court sentenced her to 10 months behind bars -- effective immediately -- and she received a bad conduct discharge. Her fifth child is due in December. Kimberly's husband, Mario Rivera, is now the primary caretaker of their four young children.