Smithville Police have charged the mother of a now four month old baby with endangering a viable fetus because of her alleged drug use while pregnant.

22 year old Samantha Shaye Goodson was arrested on Friday, March 18 for (endangering) a viable fetus as a victim. Goodson gave birth to a child in November 2015 and a drug test of the umbilical cord came back positive for hydromorphone and marijuana for which Goodson had no prescription. Her bond is $1,500 and she will be in court on April 7.

State law allows prosecutors to pursue criminal assault charges and potential jail terms if women bear children who are addicted or suffer other injuries because of the mom's drug use.

Tougher to Charge Mothers in July of 2016:

Come July of this year, charging mothers for abusing drugs that were not prescribed to them while pregnant will be a lot tougher if not all together impossible.

House Bill 1660 would have extended the Fetal Assault Law, which is set to die in July of 2016.

The law was set to fade away on July 1, 2016 if no action was taken on it. However, lawmakers did indeed take action by allowing the bill to die in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee when they voted to end the bill by a vote of 3 to 3. In other words, the bill will end the Fetal Assault Law on July 1, 2016.

The fetal assault law was passed in 2014 in Tennessee. It allows mothers of babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) to be charged with "Fetal Assault." NAS occurs when soon to be mothers take opiates during their pregnancy.

The law will expire on July 1, 2016. House Bill 1660 would have deleted the termination date of the bill which meant it would have remained on the books indefinitely.