Although the law was passed in July, a campaign led by conservative groups and medical associations gathered 46,000 signatures to force another referendum.
A street of Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. / Photo: [link]Wei Khang Chong[/link], Unsplash CC0.
In a close vote, 53% of Slovenians voted against passing the assisted dying law in the referendum held this Sunday.
According to the state electoral commission, around 46% supported the law, while the turnout was nearly 41%. The no-votes also represented more than 20% of 1.7 million eligible voters in Slovenia, a requirement to validate the outcome of the vote.
This result means that the law is suspended, and the Slovenian parliament will not be able to vote on any legislation related to assisted dying for at least one year.
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Despite the rejection of the law, the Slovenian prime minister, Robert Golob said in a press release that “the challenge we are addressing still remains”.
“This is not a political issue, it has always been a matter of dignity, human rights, and individual choice”, he added.
The Slovenian parliament had already approved a law in July allowing assisted dying after a 2024 referendum supported it.
The law, which was to take effect this year, stated that “mentally competent people who have no chance of recovery or are facing unbearable pain have the right to assisted dying and would administer the lethal medication themselves, after approval from two doctors and a period of consultation”. That did not apply to people with mental illnesses.
However, conservative groups, doctors' associations, and the Roman Catholic Church, gathered 46,000 signatures in favour of repeating the vote, exceeding the 40,000 required.
“Solidarity and justice had won”, said Ales Primc, head of Voice for the Children and the Family, one the NGOs that organised the no vote campaign, after the results.
For Primc, “Slovenia rejected the government’s health, pension and social reforms based on death and poisoning”.
After the law was passed by the parliament in July, the Slovenian Medical Association, along with the Medical Chamber of Slovenia, the Slovenian Medical Academy and the National Medical Ethics Commission, issued a joint declaration, stating that they “cannot and do not want to become assistants in suicide”, and calling on the government to “prioritise the legalisation of accessible palliative care”.
Slovenia would have become the sixth EU member state, after Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal, to fully legalise euthanasia, and the tenth European jurisdiction, including Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Germany, permitting various forms of assisted dying.
United Kingdom is on track to legalise assisted dying, as well as Scotland, while in France the National Assembly backed the assited dying bill last May, but it might not be passed before 2027.
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