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Federal Social Court in Kassel
Photo: Uwe Zucchi / dpa
If their mother abuses alcohol during pregnancy, children are only entitled to compensation under special circumstances.
For this, alcohol consumption must intentionally aim at killing the unborn child.
That comes from a judgment of the Federal Social Court on Thursday.
The Kassel judges dismissed the lawsuit of a young person born in 2005.
She is severely disabled from birth.
According to the lower courts, the cause of the disability was the mother's alcohol consumption.
The young person demanded a pension according to the Victims Compensation Act for crime victims.
The state of Saxony-Anhalt had refused that alcohol abuse does not constitute behavior relevant to criminal law. (Az. B 9 V 3/18 R)
"Assault on the child"
"Prenatal alcohol abuse during pregnancy can also represent a physical attack on the unborn child," said the presiding judge at the Federal Social Court.
This is a punishable offense.
In the present case, however, the intention to terminate a pregnancy is not recognizable.
According to the Federal Social Court, it was the first supreme court decision of this kind. According to the FASD Germany Association, which represents those affected, around 10,000 children are born nationwide every year with damage from alcohol, the so-called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
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lmd / dpa