Court Opinion

ID: 9695614
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:25:23.499478+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:14.969657
License: Public Domain

McEWEN, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
Since the rulings of both the United States Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973), and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in Commonwealth v. Berrigan, 509 Pa. 118, 501 A.2d 226 (1985), preclude the presentation by appellants of the defense of justification, I am compelled to join in the ruling of my distinguished colleague, President Judge Vincent A. Cirillo, the author of the lead opinion affirming the judgment of sentence. I write, nonetheless, so as to express the view that appellants have surmounted three of the four obstacles to presentation of the defense — a view which is, of course, measurably different from the conclusion of the lead opinion that appellants failed to meet any of the four requirements.
While the defense of justification has a number of synonyms,1 it is “ ‘often expressed in terms of choice of evils: When the pressure of circumstances presents one with a choice of evils, the law prefers that he avoid the greater evil by bringing about the lesser evil.’ ” State v. Olsen, 99 Wis.2d 572, 576, 299 N.W.2d 632, 634 (1980) quoting La-Fave & Scott, Criminal Law § 50, at 382 (1972). “Determination of the issues of competing values and, therefore, the availability of the defense of necessity is precluded, how*353ever, when there has been a deliberate legislative choice as to the values at issue.” State v. Warshow, 138 Vt. 22, 27, 410 A.2d 1000, 1003 (1979) (Hill, J., concurring).
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973), held that the constitutional right of privacy of a mother is paramount to the right to life of her unborn child during the first trimester of pregnancy. Thus, this nation’s highest court balanced the competing interest of the mother in terminating her pregnancy against the right to life of the infant, and held that the right of the mother to terminate her pregnancy during the first trimester is paramount to the right to life of the infant. Our state legislature, in response to Roe v. Wade, supra, enacted the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3201-3220, which authorizes first trimester abortions such as those scheduled for August 10, 1985, at the Northeast Women’s Center. The appellants have not asserted that any of the pregnancies scheduled for abortion were beyond the first trimester. See: 18 Pa.C.S. § 3209.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court directly addressed the protestors’ reliance upon the defense of justification and decreed in Berrigan that “the defense of justification will lie only where the actor offers evidence that will demonstrate:
(1) that the actor was faced with a public disaster that was clear and imminent, not debatable or speculative;
(2) that the actor could reasonably expect that the actions taken would be effective in avoiding the immediate public disaster;
(3) that there is no legal alternative which will be effective in abating the immediate public disaster;
(4) that no legislative purpose exists to exclude the justification from the particular situation faced by the actor.”
Id. 509 Pa. at 124, 501 A.2d at 229.
Thus, an accused who wishes to present evidence in support of the defense of justification must make an offer of proof as to each one of the four specific elements of the defense, namely, efficacy, imminency, lack of legal alterna*354tive, and absence of a legislative purpose to exclude the defense. It follows, of course, that the trial court is obliged to preclude any effort to rely upon the defense even if but one of the four elements cannot be demonstrated.
The disaster which appellants sought to prevent was the abortions that would be completed in a very brief time after the women entered the building. While it is to be conceded that a certain number of the women entering the building sought but information, a significant number of women were entering the clinic to effect an abortion. The danger perceived by appellants was, therefore, clear and imminent. Further, were appellants able to prevent the women from entering into the building, their action would have been quite effective in thwarting the immediate disaster appellants perceived as awaiting the women and their unborn children in the clinic. And, of course, appellants had no legal alternative available. Therefore, I conclude that appellants complied with three of the conditions precedent to presentation of the defense of justification.
It is the fourth and final element that impedes the presentation of the defense of justification by the appellants. The fourth condition prescribed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Berrigan, supra, 509 Pa. at 124, 501 A.2d at 229, required appellants to establish that “no legislative purpose exists to exclude the justification from the particular situation faced by the actor.” The Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3201 et seq., enacted as a consequence of the Roe v. Wade decision of the United States Supreme Court, evinced the intention of the Pennsylvania Legislature to exclude the defense of justification in the situation confronting appellants. Thus, the appellants here did not — in fact, could not — establish the absence of a legislative purpose to exclude the defense of justification.
My eminent colleague, Judge Patrick R. Tamilia, provides an insightful rationale based upon his view that “the Supreme Court, in fixing viability at a point supported by medical knowledge as it existed at that time [1973], ... has *355left open the question of when the state may intervene, to be dependent upon medical evidence as to viability____” I differ with that interpretation and, in support of my view, note that those who abhor the ruling do so because, contrary to the dissent, the United States Supreme Court held in firm and certain fashion that the right of the mother to terminate her pregnancy during the first trimester is paramount to the right to life of that infant. On the other hand, the rationale of Judge Tamilia is no less a plea and one in which I fervently join, namely, that the United States Supreme Court, in response to accepted medical knowledge, enhanced by the technological improvements occurring during the fifteen years since the evidence was assembled for presentation to the Court in Roe v. Wade, proceed in urgent fashion to reject as outmoded the evidence of viability relied upon in Roe v. Wade.
Nonetheless, I am constrained to concur in the affirmance of the judgment of sentence.

. The general defense of justification is usually thought of as the statutory designation of what had traditionally been termed in the common law as the defense of necessity. It might be said that the term "justification” is somewhat more apt than "necessity”; the latter is somewhat misleading since the term "necessity" reflects the notion that the act of the accused was inevitable and unavoidable rather than the voluntary choice of the actor. The defense of justification is also frequently described by the process of its application, such as "choice of evils”, "competing harms”, "compulsion", "balancing of harms", "balancing of evils”, "balancing of competing values”, and "confession and avoidance".