Article 2.5. Reproductive Privacy Act of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 106. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 2.5.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Reproductive Privacy Act.
The Legislature finds and declares that every individual
possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal
reproductive decisions. Accordingly, it is the public policy of the
State of California that:
(a) Every individual has the fundamental right to choose or refuse
birth control.
(b) Every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a
child or to choose and to obtain an abortion, except as specifically
limited by this article.
(c) The state shall not deny or interfere with a woman's
fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose to obtain an
abortion, except as specifically permitted by this article.
The following definitions shall apply for purposes of this
chapter:
(a) "Abortion" means any medical treatment intended to induce the
termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live
birth.
(b) "Pregnancy" means the human reproductive process, beginning
with the implantation of an embryo.
(c) "State" means the State of California, and every county, city,
town and municipal corporation, and quasi-municipal corporation in
the state.
(d) "Viability" means the point in a pregnancy when, in the good
faith medical judgment of a physician, on the particular facts of the
case before that physician, there is a reasonable likelihood of the
fetus' sustained survival outside the uterus without the application
of extraordinary medical measures.
The state may not deny or interfere with a woman's right to
choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or
when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the
woman.
The performance of an abortion is unauthorized if either of
the following is true:
(a) The person performing the abortion is not a health care
provider authorized to perform an abortion pursuant to Section 2253
of the Business and Professions Code.
(b) The abortion is performed on a viable fetus, and both of the
following are established:
(1) In the good faith medical judgment of the physician, the fetus
was viable.
(2) In the good faith medical judgment of the physician,
continuation of the pregnancy posed no risk to life or health of the
pregnant woman.