A Lauderdale County mother is finally free from her felony charge.
Kim Blalock was charged with prescription fraud back in June, after refilling an opiate prescription for chronic pain while pregnant.
Now that the charges are dropped, Blalock's attorney says it is not only a win for her client, but for pregnant women across the state of Alabama.
"When a woman becomes pregnant, all her preexisting medical conditions don't suddenly disappear," said Emma Roth, who represents Blalock as an attorney from National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
Blalock had been prescribed opiates for years to help manage her chronic back pain.
"This is a person who is a chronic pain patient and had a medical need for the medication she was taking," explained Roth.
However, when Blalock refilled that prescription without disclosing her pregnancy to her doctor, the district attorney charged her with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
"Our goal in that case was never to make her a felon, do anything punitive with her. We wanted her to enter into a pretrial diversion that would have required her to provide clean drug screens," said Chris Connolly, the Lauderdale County district attorney.
He wanted to get Blalock help for a substance abuse problem, but her attorneys argued she did not need help as she was only using the medication given to her by a doctor.
"This is not someone who needs any kind of continuous monitoring," said Roth.
Both parties came to an agreement that Blalock would take one drug test and one substance abuse assessment. When the negative results came back, the DA dropped the charges.
"I never imagined that taking my prescribed medication would lead to a felony charge and the most terrifying period of my life," Blalock said after the case was over.
National Advocates for Pregnant Women hopes this case can set a positive precedent for women going forward, so they don't have to be scared of something as simple as refilling a prescription.
"Pregnant women in Alabama who are experiencing things like chronic pain and need medication should not live in fear," said Roth.
