I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all human life, from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages, is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction, human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts, that grows and develops, human life is the concrete reality of a being that is capable of love and of service to humanity. Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God whose love is infinite and when God gives life, it it forever.
--Pope John Paul II, Homily, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., 1979
