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Idaho Statutes
Idaho Statutes are updated to the website July 1 following the legislative session.
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
CHAPTER 6
ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTIVES
18-604. Definitions. As used in this chapter:
(1) "Abortion" means the use of any means to intentionally 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:
(a) The use of an intrauterine device or birth control pill to inhibit or prevent ovulations, fertilization, or the implantation of a fertilized ovum within the uterus;
(b) The removal of a dead unborn child;
(c) The removal of an ectopic or molar pregnancy; or
(d) The treatment of a woman who is no longer pregnant.
(2) "Department" means the Idaho department of health and welfare.
(3) "Down syndrome" means a chromosomal disorder associated either with an extra chromosome 21, in whole or in part, or an effective trisomy for chromosome 21. Down syndrome is sometimes referred to as "trisomy 21."
(4) "Emancipated" means any minor who has been married or is in active military service.
(5) "Fetus" and "unborn child." Each term means an individual organism of the species Homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.
(6) "First trimester of pregnancy" means the first thirteen (13) weeks of a pregnancy.
(7) "Hospital" means an acute care general hospital in this state, licensed as provided in chapter 13, title 39, Idaho Code.
(8) "Informed consent" means a voluntary and knowing decision to undergo a specific procedure or treatment. To be voluntary, the decision must be made freely after sufficient time for contemplation and without coercion by any person. To be knowing, the decision must be based on the physician’s accurate and substantially complete explanation of:
(a) A description of any proposed treatment or procedure;
(b) Any reasonably foreseeable complications and risks to the patient from such procedure, including those related to reproductive health; and
(c) The manner in which such procedure and its foreseeable complications and risks compare with those of each readily available alternative to such procedure, including childbirth and adoption.
The physician must provide the information in terms that can be understood by the person making the decision, with consideration of age, level of maturity and intellectual capability.
(9) "Medical emergency" means a condition that, 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 a major bodily function.
(10) "Minor" means a woman under eighteen (18) years of age.
(11) "Pregnant" and "pregnancy." Each term shall mean the reproductive condition of having a developing fetus in the body and commences with fertilization.
(12) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state as provided in chapter 18, title 54, Idaho Code.
(13) "Second trimester of pregnancy" means that portion of a pregnancy following the thirteenth week and preceding the point in time when the fetus becomes viable, and there is hereby created a legal presumption that the second trimester does not end before the commencement of the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy, upon which presumption any licensed physician may proceed in lawfully aborting a patient pursuant to section 18-608, Idaho Code, in which case the same shall be conclusive and unrebuttable in all civil or criminal proceedings.
(14) "Third trimester of pregnancy" means that portion of a pregnancy from and after the point in time when the fetus becomes viable.
(15) Any reference to a viable fetus shall be construed to mean a fetus potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid.
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