A recent column by Molly Ivins misstated the National Right to Life Committee's (NRLC - the US's largest pro-life organization) position on the beginning of life and its protection. NRLC has always held that life begins at fertilization- the union of sperm cell and egg cell. At that moment a new life begins. All the genetic material is present- nothing will be added but time and nutrition. NRLC takes no position on the prevention of fertilization. However, once life begins at fertilization, that person deserves the same protection that you and I enjoy. Therefore NRLC opposes acts to destroy life after fertilization, including the prevention of implantation.