2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 18 - CRIMES AND OFFENSES
Chapter 32 - Abortion
3203 - Definitions.

     § 3203.  Definitions.
        The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
     shall have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
     meanings given to them in this section:
        "Abortion."  The use of any means to terminate the clinically
     diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the
     termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood,
     cause the death of the unborn child except that, for the
     purposes of this chapter, abortion shall not mean the use of an
     intrauterine device or birth control pill to inhibit or prevent
     ovulation, fertilization or the implantation of a fertilized
     ovum within the uterus.
        "Born alive."  When used with regard to a human being, means
     that the human being was completely expelled or extracted from
     her or his mother and after such separation breathed or showed
     evidence of any of the following: beating of the heart,
     pulsation of the umbilical cord, definite movement of voluntary
     muscles or any brain-wave activity.
        "Complication."  Includes but is not limited to hemorrhage,
     infection, uterine perforation, cervical laceration and retained
     products. The department may further define complication.
        "Conscience."  A sincerely held set of moral convictions
     arising from belief in and relation to a deity or which, though
     not so derived, obtains from a place in the life of its
     possessor parallel to that filled by a deity among adherents to
     religious faiths.
        "Department."  The Department of Health of the Commonwealth
     of Pennsylvania.
        "Facility" or "medical facility."  Any public or private
     hospital, clinic, center, medical school, medical training
     institution, health care facility, physician's office,
     infirmary, dispensary, ambulatory surgical treatment center or
     other institution or location wherein medical care is provided
     to any person.
        "Fertilization" and "conception."  Each term shall mean the
     fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum.
        "First trimester."  The first 12 weeks of gestation.
        "Gestational age."  The age of the unborn child as calculated
     from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant
     woman.
        "Hospital."  An institution licensed pursuant to the
     provisions of the law of this Commonwealth.
        "In vitro fertilization."  The purposeful fertilization of a
     human ovum outside the body of a living human female.
        "Medical emergency."  That condition which, on the basis of
     the physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the
     medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the
     immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for
     which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and
     irreversible impairment of major bodily function.
        "Medical personnel."  Any nurse, nurse's aide, medical school
     student, professional or any other person who furnishes, or
     assists in the furnishing of, medical care.
        "Physician."  Any person licensed to practice medicine in
     this Commonwealth. The term includes medical doctors and doctors
     of osteopathy.
        "Pregnancy" and "pregnant."  Each term shall mean that female
     reproductive condition of having a developing fetus in the body
     and commences with fertilization.
        "Probable gestational age of the unborn child."  What, in the
     judgment of the attending physician, will with reasonable
     probability be the gestational age of the unborn child at the
     time the abortion is planned to be performed.
        "Unborn child" and "fetus."  Each term shall mean an
     individual organism of the species homo sapiens from
     fertilization until live birth.
        "Viability."  That stage of fetal development when, in the
     judgment of the physician based on the particular facts of the
     case before him and in light of the most advanced medical
     technology and information available to him, there is a
     reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the unborn child
     outside the body of his or her mother, with or without
     artificial support.
     (Dec. 18, 1984, P.L.1057, No.207, eff. imd.; Mar. 25, 1988,
     P.L.262, No.31, eff. 30 days; Nov. 17, 1989, P.L.592, No.64,
     eff. 60 days)

        1989 Amendment.  Act 64 amended the defs. of "fertilization,"
     "pregnancy" and "unborn child" and added the def. of
     "gestational age."
        1988 Amendment.  Act 31 amended the def. of "medical
     emergency" and added the def. of "physician."
        Cross References.  Section 3203 is referred to in section
     2602 of this title.