What is the state's power to impose the same penalty for murder of a fetus as it does for a human being?

California, United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Davis, 15 Cal.App.4th 690, 19 Cal.Rptr.2d 96 (Cal. App. 1993):

We are confirmed in reaching this result not only by our analysis of Roe v. Wade concepts and the treatment of the subject by other jurisdictions, but by two rather common observations. It surely makes little difference to the woman with child in utero, hoping and expecting to carry the child full term, whether the child is killed at 20 weeks or 25 weeks of existence. Similarly, the criminal culpability of the perpetrator of the killing seems equal, regardless of the age of the fetus. We believe it is therefore entirely within the power of the state to impose upon the killing of any fetus the same penalty as is prescribed for murder of a human being.

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