10 years ago the Equality Act was passed in the UK. This replaced the Disability Act which was passed in 1995, yet a decade later we, in a so-called civilised nation, still don’t have the most basic rights for the most vulnerable human beings, in fact, they are not even recognised as human beings. In 2020 unborn human beings still don’t have a right to life although science tells us unequivocally that human life starts at conception when the sperm fertilises the egg.

What are we counting from – 16-21 days from what?

What is the start of pregnancy? We know that a woman isn’t pregnant before she conceives. We know that you wouldn’t tell people you’re having a baby before fertilisation has even occurred. THAT is the starting point. THAT is day one and from THAT point all human beings have equal value simply because they are human beings.

We thankfully recognise that adult humans don’t lose their equality with others because they are less mobile, have a heart defect, have a cleft palate or an extra chromosome – this just makes them different. Why do we fail to recognise this in young human beings?

We don’t base equality on size. We all know that a 5year old isn’t less important than a 50 year old because they’re smaller.

We don’t base equality on our level of development. We all know that a baby or toddler isn’t less important than an adult because they’re less developed.

We don’t base equality on our environment. We all know that I’m not less important because I’m standing in a mud hut rather than a palace, or because I’m swimming in the ocean rather than walking in a desert.

We don’t base equality on our dependency. We all know that a baby isn’t less important than a 10 year old because they are more dependent on others, or that a 10 year old is less important than an adult because they are more dependent on others.

So what do we base our equality on? – Humanity! Plain and simple – if you are human then we’re equal. And when does humanity start? –  day one! Human rights, especially the most basic right of all, the right to life, should be afforded to all human beings. They should start from the day our human life starts. Our human life doesn’t start at birth, or week 24, week 12 or day 6, it starts at day one, the day we are first conceived. Why complicate what’s so simple? Why debate what’s so obvious? We’re human from day one so we’re equal from day one.