Slovenia’s Battle Over Life and Death Has Just Begun

The conservative Slovenian Democratic Party declared that an assisted suicide law passed on July 18th “opens the door to a culture of death, the loss of human dignity, and the minimization of the value of life, in particular of the most vulnerable.”

Slovenia became the latest in a string of European countries to legalize assisted suicide last Friday, with legislators approving a law giving terminally ill adults the “right” to suicide with 50 votes in favor and 34 opposed with three abstentions. Austria legalized assisted suicide in January 2022 after a Constitutional Court ruling; a euthanasia bill recently passed Third Reading in UK Parliament and now goes to the House of Lords.

Fifty-five percent of Slovenians voted in favor of assisted suicide in a national referendum last year; the nation’s Commission for Medical Ethics stated this week that they remain opposed to the law on the basis that it contains insurmountable ethical risks. 

“For several years, the advocacy NGO Srebrna nit and several individuals have been pushing for the legalization of euthanasia in Slovenia,” journalist and human rights activist Nejc Povirk told europeanconservative.com. “Last year, a law legalizing euthanasia was introduced, but it faced significant opposition, particularly from medical organizations and associations. Critics pointed out the absurdity of passing such a law amid a collapsing healthcare system and in a country where systematic palliative care is severely underdeveloped.”

“The current left-wing coalition government then called for a consultative referendum, held alongside the European Parliament elections,” Povirk said. “Because public debate was focused on other topics due to the elections, polls predicted that over 75% of people would support euthanasia. However, in a surprising outcome, only about 55% voted in favor, which was a shock even to the law’s proponents.”

The outcome reduced the government’s ambitions, and they put forward a “compromise” bill. Rather than euthanasia, the government opted to push assisted suicide that allows for “voluntary ending of life” if the patient both requests it and carries it out themselves, with medical staff present. The bill also explicitly excludes assisted suicide for mental illness, permitting it for incurable disease and unbearable suffering with two doctors and a psychiatrist evaluating eligibility and a commission granting final approval.

According to Porvik, human rights advocates plan to continue fighting. “Opponents have already begun collecting signatures to initiate a legislative referendum. Extensive public debate will be required,” Povirk said. 

There is also the possibility of a constitutional review, since the Slovenian Constitution states that human life is inviolable, implying that an amendment might be necessary to fully permit this law. Experience from the consultative referendum has shown that increased public discussion tends to increase opposition. Many people recognize that behind the proclaimed “compassion” for suffering lie elements of ableism and ageism—the idea that some lives are less worthy, or that certain individuals are no longer deserving of help to continue living.

The legislation also creates other legal conundrums by permitting assisted suicide to be carried out in a medical institution or at a patient’s home. This, Porvik noted, means that “property owners such as landlords or facility managers cannot legally prevent this, raising serious concerns about property rights and the freedom to establish organizations or care homes based on specific beliefs.” It is unclear if the new law would permit Christian nursing homes or palliative care facilities to ban assisted suicide on the premises.

These fears are driven by the experience of conscientious objectors in other countries. In Canada, a hospice in British Columbia was stripped of funding and requisitioned by the government for refusing to permit euthanasia in the facility. In another chilling instance in 2017, notorious euthanasia practitioner Ellen Wiebe “sneaked” into Louis Brier Home Hospital in Vancouver, an Orthodox Jewish nursing home that forbids euthanasia, carrying lethal drugs and other equipment in large bags to avoid detection. 

Without announcing herself at the desk, she made her way to the room of 83-year-old Barry Hyman, who was suffering from lung cancer, and gave him a legal injection. “We have quite a number of Holocaust survivors in the building,” said a furious David Keselman, CEO of Louis Brier. “This is a huge concern … as it came out, it created a very significant level of anxiety and chaos, specifically for those individuals.” An investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., however, cleared Wiebe of any wrongdoing. 

Every country that has legalized assisted suicide or euthanasia has fundamentally transformed the relationship between the individual and the state, and particularly between the vulnerable and the government. This is not a “slippery slope” argument; we now have multiple case studies that prove this transformation to be a demonstrable inevitability. Slovenian human rights activists recognize this and are gearing up for a fight. 

“Exposing the catastrophic consequences of similar laws abroad—particularly in Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands—has proven to significantly influence public opinion,” Porvik emphasized. “When autonomy becomes the supreme value, eligibility for assisted suicide tends to expand over time. This shift also affects societal attitudes, promoting the idea that at some point, the vulnerable have a duty not to be a ‘burden’ to society.”