Definitions.

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(1) “Abortion” means the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.

(2) “Abortion clinic” or “clinic” means any facility in which abortions are performed. The term does not include:

(a) A hospital; or

(b) A physician’s office, provided that the office is not used primarily for the performance of abortions.

(3) “Agency” means the Agency for Health Care Administration.

(4) “Born alive” means the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother of a human infant, at any stage of development, who, after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or has a beating heart, or definite and voluntary movement of muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, caesarean section, induced abortion, or other method.

(5) “Department” means the Department of Health.

(6) “Gestation” means the development of a human embryo or fetus between fertilization and birth.

(7) “Hospital” means a facility as defined in s. 395.002(13) and licensed under chapter 395 and part II of chapter 408.

(8) “Partial-birth abortion” means a termination of pregnancy in which the physician performing the termination of pregnancy partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.

(9) “Physician” means a physician licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 or a physician practicing medicine or osteopathic medicine in the employment of the United States.

1(10) “Reasonable medical judgment” means a medical judgment that would be made by a reasonably prudent physician, knowledgeable about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved.

1(11) “Standard medical measure” means the medical care that a physician would provide based on the particular facts of the pregnancy, the information available to the physician, and the technology reasonably available in a hospital, as defined in s. 395.002, with an obstetrical department, to preserve the life and health of the fetus, with or without temporary artificial life-sustaining support, if the fetus were born at the same stage of fetal development.

(12) “Trimester” means one of the following three distinct periods of time in the duration of a pregnancy:

(a) “First trimester,” which is the period of time from fertilization through the end of the 11th week of gestation.

(b) “Second trimester,” which is the period of time from the beginning of the 12th week of gestation through the end of the 23rd week of gestation.

(c) “Third trimester,” which is the period of time from the beginning of the 24th week of gestation through birth.

1(13) “Viable” or “viability” means the stage of fetal development when the life of a fetus is sustainable outside the womb through standard medical measures.

History.—s. 1, ch. 78-382; s. 1, ch. 86-286; ss. 4, 5, ch. 88-97; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 4, ch. 97-151; s. 37, ch. 97-264; s. 3, ch. 98-1; s. 14, ch. 2007-230; s. 1, ch. 2013-121; s. 1, ch. 2014-137; s. 1, ch. 2016-150; s. 6, ch. 2021-112.

1Note.—Section 5, ch. 2014-137, provides that:

“Severability and reversion.—

“(1) If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.

“(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if s. 390.01112, Florida Statutes, is held unconstitutional and severed by a court having jurisdiction, the amendments made by this act to s. 390.011, Florida Statutes, and subsections (4), (10), and (13) of s. 390.0111, Florida Statutes, will be repealed and will revert to the law as it existed on January 1, 2014.”


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