A highly intoxicated offender driving and kills a pregnant woman would be charged with which of the following?

• A. 1 count of vehicular homicide
• B. 1 count of vehicular homicide and 1 count of injury to pregnant woman
• C. Vehicular homicide and manslaughter
• D. Involuntary manslaughter

Answer: (B)

When a driver is highly intoxicated and causes the death of a pregnant woman, two separate harms are involved: the death itself and the impact on the pregnancy. Vehicular homicide covers the death caused by operating a vehicle in a reckless or intoxicated state. Because pregnancy creates a protected status with a possible separate harm to the unborn child, many statutes allow a separate charge for injury to a pregnant woman (or injury to an unborn child). In this scenario, that means you can have one count for vehicular homicide for the death and an additional count for injury to a pregnant woman to reflect the harm to the pregnancy/unborn child. The combination best captures both the fatal outcome and the pregnancy-related harm, which is why it’s the correct choice.