Does section 377 provide a cause of action for the wrongful death of a fetus?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Georgie Boy Manufacturing, Inc. v. Superior Court, 115 Cal.App.3d 217, 171 Cal.Rptr. 382 (Cal. App. 1981):

"There is no merit in plaintiffs' alternate contention that if section 377 does not provide a cause of action for the wrongful death of a fetus, it denies them equal protection of the laws. That constitutional doctrine is not intended 'to make it necessary that the legislature, when conferring new rights of action upon particular classes of citizens for injuries not previously actionable, should by the same act declare that all persons who may suffer damages from injuries of that character shall also have such right of action. Many considerations of public policy affect the question of the propriety and extent of such laws, the weight and effect of which, and the method of meeting or avoiding them, are matters resting exclusively in the legislative discretion.... The decision of the legislature as to how far it will extend the new right is conclusive, unless it appears beyond rational doubt that an arbitrary discrimination between persons or classes similarly situated has been made without any reasonable cause therefor.' (Pritchard v. Whitney

Page 386

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