A 27-year-old Liberty woman who was the first to be charged in DeKalb County under a state law passed last year prohibiting pregnant women from using illegal drugs has been indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury for assaulting a viable fetus.

Lindsey Paulette Davenport was charged in March with assaulting a viable fetus as the victim, a misdemeanor offense. According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, Davenport gave birth to a baby boy whose urine tested positive for opiates on Jan 21. Blood was drawn from the child’s umbilical cord which tested positive for Suboxone, Methadone, and Morphine.

The indictment alleges that "Davenport, between the first day of March, 2014 and the 21st day of January, 2015 intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly did cause bodily injury to a viable fetus, by illegally using a narcotic drug while pregnant, and the child was born addicted to and/or harmed by the narcotic drug and the addition and/or harm was a result of her illegal use of a narcotic drug taken while pregnant, constituting the offense of assault on a viable fetus."

The law went into effect July 1, 2014, and allows prosecutors to pursue criminal assault charges against women who give birth to children who are addicted or suffer other injuries because of the mother’s drug use.