Court Opinion

ID: 9695615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:25:23.503412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:14.971799
License: Public Domain

TAMILIA, Judge,
dissenting:
I follow and support the reasoning of the majority in its analysis of the justification defense to the point where it holds that justification defense in abortion is precluded by legislative and constitutional protection. Abortion Control Act, 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3201-3220. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). Abortion is constitutionally protected but it is a qualified protection. Roe, supra. The significant distinction between this case and Commonwealth v. Capitola, 508 Pa. 372, 498 A.2d 806 (1985) and Commonwealth v. Berrigan, 509 Pa. 118, 501 A.2d 226 (1985) is that there was no imminent danger in constructing atomic warheads. Abortion stands on an entirely different footing. I believe the defense is available in two respects despite statutory and constitutional limitations. First, if the clinic was processing abortions beyond the time of viability, as established by Roe, the right to protect the life of a fetus in those circumstances would exist within the present legislative and constitutional pa*356rameters. While the appellants would base their defense on proof that life begins at conception and that there are measurable brain waves in a fetus as young as eight weeks of age, the Supreme Court in Roe, having established the right to intervene by the state only at the point of viability, their argument as to life beginning as determined by brain wave activity is irrelevant. However, the Supreme Court, in fixing viability at a point supported by medical knowledge as it existed at that time, in my opinion has left open the question of when the state may intervene, to be dependent on medical evidence as to viability at the time at issue. Roe v. Wade was promulgated in 1973. In the intervening years, enormous strides have been made in sustaining life of fetuses outside the womb, who, at the time of Roe, were considered nonviable. In Akron v. Akron Ctr. for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416, 103 S.Ct. 2481, 76 L.Ed.2d 687 (1983), the majority summarized the holding in Roe and subsequent abortion decisions as follows:
First, a State has an “important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life.” [Roe ] [410 U.S.] at 162, 35 L Ed 2d 147, 93 S Ct 705 [at 731]. Although the interest exists “throughout the course of the woman’s pregnancy,” Beal v. Doe, 432 US 438, 446, 53 L Ed 2d 464, 97 S Ct 2366 [2371] (1977), it becomes compelling only at viability, the point at which the fetus “has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother’s womb,” Roe, supra, at 163, 35 L Ed 2d 147, 93 S Ct 705 [at 732]. See Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth, 428 US 52, 63-65, 49 L Ed 2d 788, 96 S Ct 2831 [2838-39] (1976). At viability this interest in protecting the potential life of the unborn child is so important that the State may proscribe abortions altogether, “except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.” Roe, 410 US, at 164, 35 L Ed 2d 147, 93 S.Ct 705 [at 732].
Id. at 428, 76 L.Ed.2d 702, 103 S.Ct. at 2492.
The dissent, authored by Justice O’Connor, joined by Justices White and Rehnquist, carried the concept of flexi*357bility as to viability beyond that discussed in the majority. The dissent stated:
Just as improvements in medical technology inevitably will move forward the point at which the State may regulate for reasons of maternal health, different technological improvements will move backward the point of viability at which the State may proscribe abortions except when necessary to preserve the life and health of the mother.
In 1973, viability before 28 weeks was considered unusual. The 14th edition of L. Heilman & J. Pritchard, Williams Obstetrics (1971), on which the Court relied in Roe for its understanding of viability, stated, at 493, that “[attainment of a [fetal] weight of 1,000 g [or a fetal age of approximately 28 weeks gestation] is ... widely used as the criterion of viability.” However, recent studies have demonstrated increasingly earlier fetal viability. It is certainly reasonable to believe that fetal viability in the first trimester of pregnancy may be possible in the not too distant future. Indeed, the Court has explicitly acknowledged that Roe left the point of viability “flexible for anticipated advancements in medical skill.” Colautti v. Franklin, 439 US 379, 387, 58 L Ed 2d 596, 99 S Ct 675 [681] (1979). “[W]e recognized in Roe that viability was a matter of medical judgment, skill, and technical ability, and we preserved the flexibility of the term.” Danforth, supra, [428 U.S.] at 64, 49 L Ed 2d 788, 96 S Ct 2831 [at 2838].
The Roe framework, then, is clearly on a collision course with itself. As the medical risks of various abortion procedures decrease, the point at which the State may regulate for reasons of maternal health is moved further forward to actual childbirth. As medical science becomes better able to provide for the separate existence of the fetus, the point of viability is moved further back toward conception. Moreover, it is clear that the trimester approach violates the fundamental aspiration of judicial decisionmaking [sic] through the application of neutral principles “sufficiently absolute to give them roots *358throughout the community and continuity over significant periods of time____” A. Cox, The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government 114 (1976). The Roe framework is inherently tied to the state of medical technology that exists whenever particular litigation ensues. Although legislatures are better suited to make the necessary factual judgments in this area, the Court’s framework forces legislatures, as a matter of constitutional law, to speculate about what constitutes “accepted medical practice” at any given time. Without the necessary expertise or ability, courts must then pretend to act as science review boards and examine those legislative judgments.
Id. at 456-58, 76 L.Ed.2d at 720-21, 103 S.Ct. at 2506-07.
The significance of these holdings is that Roe was considered in 1973. Akron was argued in 1982, and we now have the case sub judice under consideration in 1988. In the 15 intervening years it is acknowledged that viability has been reduced to below 24 weeks, as opposed to 28 weeks under Roe. While there is no break in the underlying position that viability of the fetus determines when the state interest may be invoked on its behalf, as opposed to conception, the standards applied in Roe are no longer applicable for that determination.
This is the point at which I depart from the majority. Even assuming that a defense of justification based upon conception as put forth by appellant is fruitless because of holdings of Roe and legislative enactments such as the Abortion Control Act, that defense may still be available to late-terin abortions as to viability. Since the majority wisely ignored waiver for failure to specify the justification defense under either sections 503 or 510, we may consider that defense as it applies to the entire spectrum of fetal life where viability is implicated. As Justice O’Connor stated in her Akron dissent, “It is certainly reasonable to believe that fetal viability in the first trimester of pregnancy may be possible in the not too distant future. Indeed the Court has explicitly acknowledged that Roe left the point of *359viability ‘flexible for anticipated advancements in medical skills’.” Citations omitted. Id. at 457, 76 L.Ed.2d at 720-21, 103 S.Ct. at 2507.
If viability has significantly been advanced and abortion services continue to apply the 1973 Roe standards, then a state interest in protecting fetal life is likely implicated in some cases. Fetal life is, therefore, protected in those instances and the defense of justification would be available to persons attempting to protect or save a fetus capable of surviving under the advanced medical standards. Unquestionably, clinics and hospitals can and do establish standards and controls to assure that no abortions are performed except in cases in which the fetus could not be viable under advanced medical technology. This may not, however, be presumed in the face of an offer of proof on the defense of justification.
This case, therefore, cannot be decided on the law promulgated under Capitola and Berrigan, supra. There, the danger to life was not imminent and there were no specific individuals who could be identified as being in danger nor could the actions of the protesters be effective in avoiding the greater harm.
In this case, the appellants conceivably could have produced evidence that viability had significantly advanced from the 28 weeks’ criterion of Roe, that a viable fetus, who would survive under the advanced medical technology available, would be terminated and that the actions of the appellants would be effective in avoiding the greater harm as the fetus in that class would have been aborted before legal action would be taken. It is also clear that no legal alternative would have been effective in abating the harm. Thus the denial of the right to pursue the justification defense precluded the appellants from attempting to establish the proof of viability and the inherent right to protect life under the circumstances of this case.
It is acknowledged that this will be a difficult task and the proof may not be forthcoming, despite the offer. However, by rejecting the offer out of hand as to proof of *360conception, appellants were also precluded from pursuing proof of earlier viability than recognized by the clinic under Roe.
It must be left for another day and to a higher court to pass on the right to intervene under the justification defense as it relates to conception. As of now, this Court, as an intermediate appellate court, is powerless to do so.
I would vacate the judgment of sentence and grant a new trial to permit the appellants the opportunity to invoke the justification defense in respect to the viability standard utilized by the clinic and the likelihood that viable fetuses might be aborted.