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John O'Connor is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City. Some of his views on abortion are reprinted in the anthology edited by Cozic and Tipp. He offers the following argument:

A new human life begins as soon as the egg has been fertilized. Science reveals without question that once the egg is fertilized every identifying characteristic of a brand-new human being is present, even the color of the eyes and the hair, the sex and everything else. Pregnancy is the period for this new human life to mature, not to "become human" . . . .

No one has a right to choose to put an innocent human being to death. The use of ambiguous language and euphemisms has been tragically successful in switching the emphasis from "life" to "choice," so that those who are trying to defend life are accused of trying to deprive people of choice. . . . Reproductive rights, however, are not the issue; killing human beings is. . . .

The church recognizes that many hardships can occur with a pregnancy. But there is a fundamental principle which must always prevail: the end never justifies the means if the means are evil. In other words, no matter how difficult the alternatives, they cannot justify the direct killing of an innocent human being. What kind of world would it be if we were not faithful to that principle? Where would the killing stop?

Reference: John O'Connor, in Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints, p. 96-98.