This provision defines terms used in the Preborn Child Protection Act, including abortion, gestational age, medical emergency, preborn child, pregnant, and reasonable medical judgment.
For purposes of the Preborn Child Protection Act: (1)(a) Abortion means the prescription or use of any instrument, device, medicine, drug, or substance to or upon a woman known to be pregnant with the specific intent of terminating the life of her preborn child. (b) Abortion shall under no circumstances be interpreted to include: (i) Removal of an ectopic pregnancy; (ii) Removal of the remains of a preborn child who has already died; (iii) An act done with the intention to save the life or preserve the health of the preborn child; (iv) The accidental or unintentional termination of the life of a preborn child; or (v) During the practice of in vitro fertilization or another assisted reproductive technology, the termination or loss of the life of a preborn child who is not being carried inside a woman's body; (2) Gestational age means the age of a preborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman; (3)(a) Medical emergency means any condition which, in reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of the pregnant woman as to necessitate the termination of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay in terminating her pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function. (b) No condition shall be deemed a medical emergency if based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct which would result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function; (4) Preborn child means an individual living member of the species homo sapiens, throughout the embryonic and fetal stages of development to full gestation and childbirth; (5) Pregnant means the condition of having a living preborn child inside one's body; and (6) Reasonable medical judgment means a medical judgment that could be made by a reasonably prudent physician, knowledgeable about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved. History: Laws 2023, LB574, § 3.