Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 36 > Chapter 20 > Article 1 - General Provisions

• Abortion: means the use of any means to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will cause, with reasonable likelihood, the death of the unborn child. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Auscultation: means the act of listening for sounds made by internal organs of the unborn child, specifically for a heartbeat, using an ultrasound transducer and fetal heart rate monitor. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Bodily remains: means the physical remains, corpse or body parts of an unborn child who has been expelled or extracted from his or her mother through abortion. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Conception: means the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Gestational age: means the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• 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.
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• 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 her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Medication abortion: means the use of any medication, drug or other substance that is intended to cause or induce an abortion. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Minor: means a person under eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Physician: means a person who is licensed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 13 or 17. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• pregnancy: means a female reproductive condition of having a developing unborn child in the body and that begins with conception. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Probable gestational age: means the gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is planned to be performed and as determined with reasonable probability by the attending physician. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Surgical abortion: means the use of a surgical instrument or a machine to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will cause, with reasonable likelihood, the death of the unborn child. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Ultrasound: means the use of ultrasonic waves for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes to monitor a developing unborn child. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Unborn child: means the offspring of human beings from conception until birth. See Arizona Laws 36-2151
• Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215