In the Land of the Free, the precedent has been set. Parents can and will be thrown in jail for choosing to not to vaccinate their children.

Detroit, MI — In a seemingly unprecedented violation of rights, a case out of Detroit, Michigan should worry even the most stringent pro-vaccine advocates. A mother has been sentenced to jail for failing to have her 9-year-old son vaccinated.

While the Free Thought Project has reported on instances of children being denied public services, like school, for not vaccinating their children, the idea that someone is now being thrown in jail for choosing to abstain from vaccination is chilling.

“I would rather sit behind bars standing up for what I believe in, than giving in to something I strongly don’t believe in,” said Rebecca Bredow last week when given the ultimatum—vaccinate your son or go to jail.

On Wednesday, she stood by those words and refused to back down. Judge Karen McDonald then told her she was in violation of the court order to vaccinate her son and she was sentenced to jail.

For refusing to go against her beliefs and vaccinate her son, Bredow will spend the next seven days in a