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2017 Arkansas Code
Title 20 - Public Health and Welfare
Subtitle 2 - Health and Safety
Chapter 16 - Reproductive Health
Subchapter 17 - Woman's Right-to-Know Act
§ 20-16-1702. Definitions
Universal Citation: AR Code § 20-16-1702 (2017)
- As used in this subchapter:
- (1)
- (A) "Abortion" means the act of using or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance, device, or means with the intent 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.
- (B) A use, prescription, or means under this subdivision (1) is not an abortion if the use, prescription, or means is performed with the intent to:
- (i) Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child;
- (ii) Remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion; or
- (iii) Remove an ectopic pregnancy;
- (2)
- (A) "Abortion-inducing drug" means a medicine, drug, or any other substance prescribed or dispensed with the intent of terminating the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child.
- (B) "Abortion-inducing drugs" includes off-label use of drugs known to have abortion-inducing properties, which are prescribed specifically with the intent of causing an abortion, such as misoprostol, Cytotec, and methotrexate.
- (C) This definition does not apply to drugs that may be known to cause an abortion but which are prescribed for other medical indications such as chemotherapeutic agents or diagnostic drugs.
- (D) Use of drugs to induce abortion is also known as a medical, drug-induced, or chemical abortion;
- (3) "Adverse event" means an undesirable experience associated with the use of a medical product in a patient, including without limitation an event that causes:
- (A) Death;
- (B) Threat to life;
- (C) Hospitalization;
- (D) Disability or permanent damage;
- (E) Congenital anomaly or birth defect, or both;
- (F) Required intervention to prevent permanent impairment or damage;
- (G) Other serious important medical events, including without limitation:
- (i) Allergic bronchospasm requiring treatment in an emergency room;
- (ii) Serious blood dyscrasias;
- (iii) Seizures or convulsions that do not result in hospitalization; and
- (iv) The development of drug dependence or drug abuse;
- (4) "Complication" means an adverse physical or psychological condition arising from the performance of an abortion, including without limitation:
- (A) An adverse reaction to anesthesia or other drugs;
- (B) Bleeding;
- (C) A blood clot;
- (D) Cardiac arrest;
- (E) Cervical perforation;
- (F) Coma;
- (G) Embolism;
- (H) Endometritis;
- (I) Failure to actually terminate the pregnancy;
- (J) Free fluid in the abdomen;
- (K) Hemorrhage;
- (L) Incomplete abortion, also referred to as "retained tissue";
- (M) Infection;
- (N) Metabolic disorder;
- (O) Undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy;
- (P) Placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies;
- (Q) Pelvic inflammatory disease;
- (R) A psychological or emotional complication such as depression, anxiety, or a sleeping disorder;
- (S) Preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies;
- (T) Renal failure;
- (U) Respiratory arrest;
- (V) Shock;
- (W) Uterine perforation; and
- (X) Other adverse event;
- (5) "Conception" means the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum;
- (6) "Emancipated minor" means a person under eighteen (18) years of age who is or has been married or who has been legally emancipated;
- (7) "Facility" means a public or private hospital, clinic, center, medical school, medical training institution, healthcare facility, physician's office, infirmary, dispensary, ambulatory surgical treatment center, or other institution or location where medical care is provided to a person;
- (8) "First trimester" means the first twelve (12) weeks of gestation;
- (9) "Gestational age" means the time that has elapsed since the first day of the woman's last menstrual period;
- (10) "Hospital" means any institution licensed as a hospital pursuant to the laws of this state;
- (11) "Medical emergency" means that condition which, on the basis of the physician's good-faith clinical judgment, complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman and necessitates the immediate termination of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function;
- (12) "Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in this state, including medical doctors and doctors of osteopathy;
- (13) "Pregnant" or "pregnancy" means that female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the woman's uterus;
- (14) "Qualified person" means an agent of the physician who is a psychologist, licensed social worker, licensed professional counselor, registered nurse, physician assistant, or physician;
- (15) "Unborn child" means the offspring of human beings from conception until birth; and
- (16) "Viability" means the state of fetal development when, in the judgment of the physician based on the particular facts of the case before him or her and in light of the most advanced medical technology and information available to him or her, 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.
- (1)
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