Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 50 > Chapter 20 - Abortion

• Abortion: means the act of using or prescribing an instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman, with knowledge that termination by those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Abortion: means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus. See Montana Code 50-20-104
• Abortion: means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead unborn human being. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Abortion clinic: means a health care provider that performs any abortion procedure or provides an abortion-inducing drug. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Abortion clinic: means a facility that:

  (i)performs surgical abortion procedures; or

  (ii)provides an abortion-inducing drug. See Montana Code 50-20-901

• Abortion-inducing drug: means a medicine, drug, or any other substance provided, prescribed, or dispensed with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with the knowledge that the termination will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Abortion-inducing drug: means a medicine, drug, or other substance provided with the intent of terminating the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman. See Montana Code 50-20-901
• Adverse event: means an untoward medical occurrence associated with the use of a drug in humans, whether or not considered drug-related. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Affiliate: means an organization that directly or indirectly:

  (a)owns or controls another organization;

  (b)is owned or controlled, in whole or in part, by another organization;

  (c)is related by shareholdings or other means of control to another organization;

  (d)is a parent or subsidiary of another organization; or

  (e)is under common control with another organization. See Montana Code 50-20-901

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Associated medical practitioner: means a person authorized under 50-20-109 to perform an abortion who has entered into an associated medical practitioner agreement. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• attempted: means an act or an omission of a statutorily required act that, under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be, constitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in the performance of an abortion in violation of this chapter. See Montana Code 50-20-104
• Born alive: means the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother of a human infant, at any stage of development, who, after expulsion or extraction, breathes, has a beating heart, or has definite movement of voluntary 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, cesarean section, induced abortion, or another method. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• chemical abortion: means a medicine, drug, or any other substance provided 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. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Coerce: means to restrain or dominate the choice of a minor by force, threat of force, or deprivation of food and shelter. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Complication: means an adverse physical or psychological condition arising from the performance of an abortion, including but not limited to uterine perforation, cervical perforation, infection, heavy or uncontrolled bleeding, hemorrhage, blood clots resulting in pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, failure to actually terminate the pregnancy, incomplete abortion, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis, missed ectopic pregnancy, cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, renal failure, metabolic disorder, shock, embolism, coma, placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies, preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies, free fluid in the abdomen, hemolytic reaction due to the administration of ABO-incompatible blood or blood products, adverse reactions to anesthesia and other drugs, subsequent development of breast cancer, death, psychological complications such as depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and sleeping disorders, and any other adverse event. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Consent: means a notarized written statement obtained on a form and executed in the manner prescribed by 50-20-505 that is signed by a parent or legal guardian of a minor and that declares that the minor intends to seek an abortion and that the parent or legal guardian of the minor consents to the abortion. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of public health and human services provided for in 2-15-2201. See Montana Code 50-20-104
• Department: means the department of public health and human services provided for in 2-15-2201. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• dismemberment abortion procedure: means a procedure that involves:

  (a)the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device 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 human being; and

  (b)dilation of the cervix, insertion of grasping instruments, and removal of disarticulated fetal parts from a living unborn human being. See Montana Code 50-20-1002

• Emancipated minor: means a person under 18 years of age who is or has been married or who has been granted an order of limited emancipation by a court as provided in 41-1-503. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Facility: means a hospital, health care facility, physician's office, or other place in which an abortion is performed. See Montana Code 50-20-104
• Female: means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XX chromosomes and produces or would produce relatively large, relatively immobile gametes, or eggs, during her life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Fertilization: means the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Gestational age: means the age of an unborn child, calculated from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• gestational age: means the time that has elapsed since the first day of the woman's last menstrual period. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care provider: means an individual who may be asked to participate in any way in a health care service or procedure, including but not limited to a physician, physician's assistant, nurse, certified nursing assistant, medical assistant, hospital employee, medical facility employee, or abortion clinic employee. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Human being: means an individual member of the species Homo sapiens, from and after the point of conception. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Informed consent: means voluntary consent to an abortion by the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed only after full disclosure to the woman by:

  (a)the physician who is to perform the abortion of the following information:

  (i)the particular medical risks associated with the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when medically accurate, the risks of infection, hemorrhage, breast cancer, danger to subsequent pregnancies, and infertility;

  (ii)the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed; and

  (iii)the medical risks of carrying the child to term;

  (b)the physician or an agent of the physician:

  (i)that medical assistance benefits may be available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care;

  (ii)that the father is liable to assist in the support of the child, even in instances in which the father has offered to pay for the abortion; and

  (iii)that the woman has the right to review the printed materials described in 50-20-304; and

  (c)the physician or the agent that the printed materials described in 50-20-304 have been provided by the department and that the materials describe the unborn child and list agencies that offer alternatives to abortion. See Montana Code 50-20-104

• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• knowingly: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Knowingly: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Knowingly: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Major bodily function: includes but is not limited to functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, and digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• 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 the woman's pregnancy to avert the woman's death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. See Montana Code 50-20-303
• Medical emergency: means a condition that, on the basis of the good faith clinical judgment of a physician or physician assistant, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of the woman's pregnancy to avert the woman's death or a condition for which a delay in treatment will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Medical emergency: means a condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman that it necessitates the immediate abortion of the woman's pregnancy without first determining gestational age in order to avert the woman's death or for which the delay necessary to determine gestational age will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Medical emergency: means a condition that, on the basis of a physician's good faith clinical judgment, makes a separation procedure performed prior to the ability of the unborn human being to survive outside of the womb with or without artificial support necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition arising from the pregnancy itself, or when the continuation of the pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Medical facility: means a public or private hospital, clinic, center, medical school, medical training institute, health care facility, physician's office, infirmary, dispensary, ambulatory surgical treatment center, or other institution or location where medical care or treatment is provided to an individual. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Medical practitioner: means a person authorized under 50-20-109 to perform an abortion. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Medical practitioner: means a person authorized under 50-20-109 to perform an abortion in this state. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Minor: means a pregnant female under 18 years of age who is not an emancipated minor. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Physical abuse: means any physical injury intentionally inflicted by a parent or legal guardian on a minor. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine under Title 37, chapter 3. See Montana Code 50-20-303
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine under Title 37, chapter 3. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in Montana. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Physician assistant: means a person licensed pursuant to Title 37, chapter 20, who provides medical services under the supervision of a physician. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Physician assistant: means a person licensed under Title 37, chapter 20. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• pregnancy: means that female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the woman's body. See Montana Code 50-20-303
• pregnancy: means the female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the uterus. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Pregnant: means the human female reproductive condition of having a living unborn human being within the female's body throughout the entire embryonic and fetal stages of the unborn human being from fertilization to full gestation and childbirth. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Probable gestational age of the unborn child: means what, in reasonable medical judgment, will with reasonable probability be the gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is planned to be performed or attempted. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• purposely: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Purposely: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-803
• Purposely: has the meaning provided in 45-2-101. See Montana Code 50-20-1002
• Qualified medical practitioner: means a medical practitioner who has the ability to:

  (a)identify and document a viable intrauterine pregnancy;

  (b)assess the gestational age of pregnancy and inform the woman of gestational age-specific risks;

  (c)diagnose ectopic pregnancy;

  (d)determine blood type and administer RhoGAM if a woman is Rh negative;

  (e)assess for signs of domestic abuse, reproductive control, human trafficking, and other signals of coerced abortion;

  (f)provide surgical intervention or who has entered into a contract with another qualified medical practitioner to provide surgical intervention; and

  (g)supervise and bear legal responsibility for any agent, employee, or contractor who is participating in any part of a procedure, including but not limited to preprocedure evaluation and care. See Montana Code 50-20-703

• Reasonable medical judgment: means a medical judgment that would be made by a reasonably prudent medical practitioner who is knowledgeable about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved. See Montana Code 50-20-602
• Sex: means the organization of the body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Sexual abuse: has the meaning provided in 41-3-102. See Montana Code 50-20-503
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Unborn child: means the offspring of human beings from conception until birth. See Montana Code 50-20-303
• Unborn child: means an individual organism of the species homo sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of being born alive as defined in 1 U. See Montana Code 50-20-703
• Viability: means the ability of a fetus to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. See Montana Code 50-20-104