Definitions.

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NOTE: This section is conditionally repealed upon certification by the Attorney General that either of the conditions set forth in Laws 2021, c. 308, § 18 have been met. (See end of section for those conditions.)

For the purposes of the Oklahoma Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act:

1. "Abortion" means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device:

  • a.to purposely kill the unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant, or
  • b.to purposely terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with a purpose other than:
    • (1)after viability to produce a live birth and preserve the life and health of the child born alive, or
    • (2)to remove a dead unborn child;

2. "Attempt to perform an abortion" means to do or omit to do anything that, under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be, is an act or omission constituting a substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in the actor performing an abortion. Such substantial steps include, but are not limited to:

  • a.agreeing with an individual to perform an abortion on that individual or on some other person, whether or not the term "abortion" is used in the agreement, and whether or not the agreement is contingent on another factor such as receipt of payment or a determination of pregnancy, or
  • b.scheduling or planning a time to perform an abortion on an individual, whether or not the term "abortion" is used, and whether or not the performance is contingent on another factor such as receipt of payment or a determination of pregnancy.

This definition shall not be construed to require that an abortion procedure actually must be initiated for an attempt to occur;

3. "Dismemberment abortion" means, with the purpose of causing the death of an unborn child, purposely to dismember a living unborn child and extract him or her one piece at a time from the uterus through use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush, and/or grasp a portion of the unborn child's body to cut or rip it off. This definition does not include an abortion which uses suction to dismember the body of the developing unborn child by sucking fetal parts into a collection container;

4. "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery, or otherwise legally authorized to perform an abortion;

5. "Purposely" means the following: A person acts purposely with respect to a material element of an offense when:

  • a.if the element involves the nature of his or her conduct or a result thereof, it is his or her conscious objective to engage in conduct of that nature or to cause such a result, and
  • b.if the element involves the attendant circumstances, he or she is aware of the existence of such circumstances or he or she believes or hopes that they exist;

6. "Serious health risk to the unborn child's mother" means that in reasonable medical judgment she has a condition that so complicates her medical condition that it necessitates the abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or to avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions. No such condition may be determined to exist if it is based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function; and

7. "Woman" means a female human being whether or not she has reached the age of majority.

Added by Laws 2015, c. 59, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2015.

NOTE: Section 18 of Laws 2021, c. 308 provides:


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