As used in this article:

(1) "Medical emergency" means that condition which, on the basis of the physician‘s good faith judgment, so complicates a pregnancy as to necessitate an immediate abortion to avert the risk of her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-41-320

  • Abortion: means the act of using or prescribing any 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 the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child. See South Carolina Code 44-41-10
  • Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in this State. See South Carolina Code 44-41-10

(2) "Probable gestational age of the embryo or fetus" means what, in the judgment of the attending physician based upon the attending physician’s examination and the woman’s medical history, is with reasonable probability the gestational age of the embryo or fetus at the time the abortion is planned to be performed.