Judgment of 15 June 1988
Annual Review of Population Law 16: 30
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12344377 Document Number: 383436
In the Federal Republic of Germany, the plaintiff brought an action contesting the judgment of the Federal Social Court dismissing his suit against his public mandatory health insurer to force it to cease the funding of abortions, other than those performed for medical reasons. The Federal Social Court had concluded that the suit was an impermissible "popular" action. On appeal, the Constitutional Court held that a contributor to a public health insurance scheme has no general constitutional right to have the material points of a claim such as the plaintiff's against an insurer heard by the social courts. In addition, it ruled that the fact that the plaintiff paid insurance premiums did not affect any specific constitutional right of the plaintiff and that, without such a specific right affected, a person cannot sue a public entity over how money is or is not spent. Thus, it concluded that because the plaintiff could point to no specific constitutional right affected, the Constitutional Court had no jurisdiction over the suit.