Pen. Code, § 187 · Chapter 1. Homicide
Pen. Code, § 187
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.
(b) This section shall not apply to any person who commits an act that results in the death of a fetus if any of the following apply:
(1) The act complied with the former Therapeutic Abortion Act (Article 2 (commencing with Section 123400) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code) or the Reproductive Privacy Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 123460) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code).
(2) The act was committed by a holder of a physician’s and surgeon’s certificate, as defined in the Business and Professions Code, in a case where, to a medical certainty, the result of childbirth would be death of the person pregnant with the fetus or where the pregnant person’s death from childbirth, although not medically certain, would be substantially certain or more likely than not.
(3) It was an act or omission by the person pregnant with the fetus or was solicited, aided, abetted, or consented to by the person pregnant with the fetus.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not be construed to prohibit the prosecution of any person under any other provision of law.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 260, Sec. 14. (SB 345) Effective January 1, 2024.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=187.
- Text hash
- sha256 854c9c944f89a7a3754fff15b7e00fc2e18bc1303610e4c47e37c01730e087c4
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 27 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 187. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Business and Professions Code
Education Code
Health and Safety Code
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 186.2Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 188Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 273abPrinted as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 290Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 290.46Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 368Printed as Section 187 or 12022.7
- Pen. Code, § 653jPrinted as Section 187, 211, 215, 245, 246, 451, 459, or 520 of the Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 667Printed as Sections 187 to 191.5, inclusive
- Pen. Code, § 859.5Printed as Section 187 or 189 of this code
- Pen. Code, § 868.5Printed as Section 187, 203, 205, or 207
- Pen. Code, § 1048.1Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 1050Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 1170.12Printed as Sections 187 to 191.5, inclusive
- Pen. Code, § 1203.08Printed as Section 187, 192, 207, 209, 209.5, 211, 215, 217, 245, 288
- Pen. Code, § 2933.2Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 2933.5Printed as Sections 187 and 189
- Pen. Code, § 4852.03Printed as Section 187, 209, 219, 4500, or 18755 of this code
- Pen. Code, § 11160Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 12022.53Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 12022.9Printed as Section 187
- Pen. Code, § 12022.95Printed as Section 187
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.