§ 63-6-1102 — Part definitions

As used in this part: (1) "Abortion": (A) Means the elective use or prescription of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance, or device, with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a patient, with knowledge that the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child; and (B) Does not mean an act to terminate a pregnancy with the intent to: (i) Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child; (ii) Remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion; (iii) Remove an ectopic pregnancy; or (iv) Treat a maternal disease or illness for which the prescribed drug is indicated; (2) "Abortion-inducing drug" or "chemical abortion": (A) Means a medicine, drug, or other substance provided with the intent of terminating the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a patient, with knowledge that the termination will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child; (B) Includes the off-label use of drugs known to have abortion-inducing properties that are prescribed specifically with the intent of causing an abortion, such as mifepristone, misoprostol, and methotrexate; and (C) Does not include drugs that may be known to cause an abortion that are prescribed for other medical indications; (3) "Adverse event" means an untoward medical occurrence associated with the use of a drug in humans, whether or not considered drug related; (4) "Associated physician" means an individual licensed, and in good standing, to practice medicine in this state pursuant to chapter 6 or 9 of this title and who has entered into an associated physician agreement pursuant to § 63-6-1104(b) ; (5) "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 other adverse events; (6) "Department" means the department of health; (7) "Facility" means a public or private hospital, clinic, center, medical school, medical training institution, healthcare business, physician's office, infirmary, dispensary, ambulatory surgical center, or other institution, location, or business where medical care or pharmaceuticals are provided to individuals; (8) "Hospital" has the same meaning as defined by § 68-11-201 ; (9) "Last menstrual period" means the time that has elapsed since the first day of the patient's last menstrual period; (10) "Physician" means an individual licensed, and in good standing, to practice medicine in this state pursuant to chapter 6 or 9 of this title; (11) "Pregnant" or "pregnancy" means the female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the patient's uterus; (12) "Provide" means an act of giving, selling, dispensing, administering, transferring possession to, or otherwise providing or prescribing, an abortion-inducing drug; (13) "Qualified physician" means a physician who has the ability to: (A) Identify and document a viable intrauterine pregnancy; (B) Assess the gestational age of pregnancy and inform the patient of gestational age-specific risks; (C) Diagnose ectopic pregnancy; (D) Determine blood type and administer RhoGAM if a patient 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 has entered into a contract with another qualified physician to provide surgical intervention; and (G) Supervise and bear legal responsibility for an agent, employee, or contractor who is participating in any part of a procedure, including, but not limited to, preprocedure evaluation and care; (14) "Reasonable medical judgment" means a medical judgment that would be made by a reasonably prudent physician knowledgeable about the patient's case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved; and (15) "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.S.C. § 8(b) .

Legislative History

Added by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1001, s 3, eff. 1/1/2023.