{"data":{"id":"us-ia/iowa-code-146e.1","jurisdiction":"us-ia","citation":"Iowa Code § 146E.1","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:\n1. “Abortion” means the termination of a human pregnancy with the intent other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.\n2. “Fetal heartbeat” means cardiac activity, the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.\n3. “Fetal heartbeat exception” means any of the following:\na. The pregnancy is the result of a rape which is reported within forty-five days of the incident to a law enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency which may include a family physician.\nb. The pregnancy is the result of incest which is reported within one hundred forty days of the incident to a law enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency which may include a family physician.\nc. Any spontaneous abortion, commonly known as a miscarriage, if not all of the products of conception are expelled.\nd. The attending physician certifies that the fetus has a fetal abnormality that in the physician’s reasonable medical judgment is incompatible with life.\n4. “Medical emergency” means the same as defined in section 146A.1.\n5. “Physician” means a person licensed under chapter 148.\n6. “Reasonable medical judgment” means a medical judgment made by a reasonably prudent physician who is knowledgeable about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved.\n7. “Unborn child” means the same as defined in section 146A.1.","path":["Title IV - PUBLIC HEALTH (Ch. 123 - 158)","Chapter 146E - ABORTION — FETAL HEARTBEAT"],"source_url":"https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/146E.1.pdf","current_through":"Iowa Code 2026 edition","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T19:40:03Z","sha256":"2a4f4018a8c717af235727153add6680a34de884469c32115c6fedfab06edc5d","source_id":"us-ia","stale":false,"prev":"us-ia/iowa-code-146d.1","next":"us-ia/iowa-code-146e.2"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}