The Slovenian parliament passed a law allowing assisted dying in July, following its approval in a 2024 referendum. But a new vote was triggered after a civil group backed by the Catholic Church and the conservative parliamentary opposition collected 46,000 signatures to demand another referendum.
The law will come into force unless a majority of voters, representing at least 20% of the 1.7 million eligible citizens, reject it.
The Catholic Church has stated that allowing assisted death “contradicts the Gospel, natural law, and the foundations of human dignity.”
According to a poll published this week by the daily newspaper Dnevnik, based on 700 respondents, about 54% of citizens support the legalisation of assisted suicide, nearly 31% oppose it, and 15% remain undecided. In June 2024, 55% of respondents said they supported the law.
While several European countries, including Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, already allow terminally ill people to receive medical assistance to end their lives, it remains a criminal offence elsewhere.
