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More than 1,200 guests from all over the world are taking part in today’s Future Congress at the Futurium in Berlin to mark World Humanist Day. Under the title “No future? Without us!”, the congress will focus on topics such as education, human rights, AI and the climate. Participants include the American sociologist Phil Zuckerman, the transformation researcher Maja Göpel, the criminal biologist Mark Benecke and the philosopher Julian Nida-Rümelin as well as humanists from Germany and many other countries.

In Germany, around 96,000 abortions are carried out each year without punishment within the three-month period. According to the law, the fertilized egg is considered to have dignity and life protection from the moment it implants in the uterus. For this reason, abortion should be illegal and immoral according to Section 218 StGB. This inconsistency in Sections 218 et seq. of the German Criminal Code and the anachronistic stigmatization of unwanted pregnant women are now to be moderately reformed in accordance with a current commission recommendation. These steps are likely to meet with a broad social consensus – although the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD) would like to see even more far-reaching proposals.

On Thursday, November 23, the hearing of the “Commission for Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine” appointed by the Federal Government will take place in Berlin. The Humanist Association of Germany has also been invited to attend. A week before the hearing, a debate broke out within the EKD about the Christian requirement to protect unborn life.