Act of Alabama No. 2006-204

Act of Alabama No. 2006-204 is a law passed in 2006 that amends Title 26 of the Code of Alabama "Infants and Incompetents" to create a crime of "Chemical Endangerment of a Child."

The Senate Bill (SB 133) was filed by Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron and co-sponsored by 20 other Senators, from both parties. It defines various terms and establishes that, "knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally" causing a child to "be exposed to, to ingest, or inhale, or have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance or drug paraphernalia," is guilty of a class C felony, and that if the child is thereby harmed, guilty of a class B felony, and if the child's death results, guilty of a class A felony. The law provides an affirmative defense for the proper administration of drugs lawfully prescribed for the child by a medical doctor. It was signed into law on March 10 by Governor Bob Riley.

The law has been used to charge parents of children exposed to methamphetamines and heroin. It was later used to prosecute women who used controlled substances during pregnancies. By 2014 more than 100 women had been arrested after testing positive for controlled substances during pregnancies. That application of the law was challenged, but the Alabama State Supreme Court decided in 2013, and confirmed in 2014, that fetuses and fertilized eggs are included by the term "child" under state law. In a separate concurring opinion in Ex Parte Hicks (2014) Chief Justice Roy Moore claimed that the 14th amendment's equal protection clause established an "inalienable right to life" for unborn children.

In 2015, at the request of Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin, Representative Mack Butler sponsored a new bill which would require medical professionals to report pregnant women's positive tests for controlled substances to law enforcement within 2 hours. He explained to the House Health Committee that such women are sometimes hard to track down for prosecution because, "crackheads don't have permanent addresses." The bill did not advance.

By 2016 the number of women charged with chemical endangerment of a fetus, for taking prescription medications, had grown to more than 500.

An Alabama Health Care Improvement Task Force.

In 2021 a mother who had delivered a healthy child, but had taken previously prescribed hydrocodone for back pain during her pregnancy, was charged under the chemical endangerment law. 

References

• Ex Parte Hicks (2014) 153 So. 3d 53, Alabama State Supreme Court
• "Alabama Bill Requires Medical Professionals to Report Drug Suspicion Quickly." (May 14, 2015) Decatur Daily
• "Special report: Alabama leads nation in turning pregnant women into felons." (September 23, 2015) AL.com

External links

• Ala. Code 1975, § 26-15-3.2 at judicial.alabama.gov
• Act of Alabama No. 2006-204 at sos.state.al.us