Here's how.
..................................California's is a comparatively tough fetal homicide law. About half the nation's states have such provisions, but many only cover viable fetuses. The California Penal Code describes murder as "the unlawful killing of a human being, with malice aforethought." A 1970 state Supreme Court decision, however, held that a Stockton man who had killed a fetus carried by his estranged wife couldn't be prosecuted for murder because the Legislature had probably meant the phrase "human being" to mean someone who had been born alive.
In response to that ruling, the Legislature amended the murder statute to its current form, which describes the crime as "the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought." The amended statute includes an exception for abortions. The Legislature at the time could have limited the term "fetus" to mean "viable fetus," but specifically rejected a proposed amendment requiring the fetus be at least 20 weeks in gestation before the statute would apply. And in a 1994 case, the state Supreme Court held that viability is not a concern in fetal murder cases, and that prosecutors can pursue such a case "as long as the state can show that the fetus has progressed beyond the embryonic stage of seven to eight weeks.".........................................................................
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California has a tough fetal murder law