As used in this article:
- (1) "Conception" means fertilization.
- (2) "Contraceptive" means a drug, device, or chemical that prevents conception.
- (3) "Fetal heartbeat" means cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.
- (4) "Gestational age" means the age of an unborn human individual as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of a pregnant woman.
- (5) "Gestational sac" means the structure that comprises the extraembryonic membranes that envelop the human fetus and that is typically visible by ultrasound after the fourth week of pregnancy.
- (6) "Human fetus" or "unborn child" each means an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.
- (7) "Intrauterine pregnancy" means a pregnancy in which a human fetus is attached to the placenta within the uterus of a pregnant woman.
- (8) "Medical emergency" means a condition that, by any reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman that it necessitates the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death without first determining whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat or for which the delay necessary to determine whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat will create serious risk of a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions. A condition must not be considered a medical emergency if based on a claim or diagnosis that a woman will engage in conduct that she intends to result in her death or in a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.
- (9) "Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine and surgery, or osteopathic medicine and surgery, in this State.
- (10) "Reasonable medical judgment" means a medical judgment that would be made by a reasonably prudent physician who is knowledgeable about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved.
- (11) "Spontaneous miscarriage" means the natural or accidental termination of a pregnancy and the expulsion of the human fetus, typically caused by genetic defects in the human fetus or physical abnormalities in the pregnant woman.
HISTORY: 2021 Act No. 1 (S.1), Section 3, eff February 18, 2021.