Ward

Penal Code section 273.5 provides that any person who willfully inflicts corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon “any person who is the mother or father of his or her child” is guilty of a felony. Does that statute apply to a man who has inflicted the proscribed injury upon a woman who is pregnant with his unborn child? We hold that it does not.

Factual and Procedural Background

Thea Airrington lived in an apartment in Riverside with her grandmother. The defendant, Airrington’s boyfriend, moved in with her in November of 1995. The following month, they conceived a child. Suspecting that the defendant was being unfaithful to her, Airrington broke off their relationship in February of 1996 and moved his belongings out of the apartment.

On March 12, 1996, when Airrington was three to three and one-half months pregnant, the defendant went to the apartment to talk to her. An argument ensued which quickly degenerated into a physical altercation, during which the defendant grabbed her arms, pushed her down, grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the closet door, slapped her, and squeezed her neck. He left after Airrington’s grandmother called the…