Družina, November 24, 2025/ Photo: Tatjana Splichal
On the feast of Christ the King, Slovenian voters rejected the law on assisted suicide in crucial referendum: 53.44 percent of voters voted against the law, and opponents also managed to achieve the required quorum.
In addition to Slovenia, the pro-life outcome is also celebrated in Croatia and other countries around the world, where many people also prayed for the success of the rejection referendum in Slovenia. The successful outcome of the referendum can be largely attributed to the support of the Catholic Church.
This was the 34th referendum in the history of independent Slovenia. The law, would allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults who experience unbearable suffering the right to end their lives with medical assistance, caused deep divisions in Slovenian society.
The citizens’ initiative that launched the referendum argued that the law poses serious ethical and security risks and could endanger vulnerable groups, especially the elderly, the sick and the disabled. The initiative was supported by the Catholic Church, medical associations, legal experts, numerous civil society organisations and opposition parties. While opinion polls before the referendum showed that more than 54 percent of respondents supported the legalisation of medical assistance in dying, the actual outcome of the vote showed the opposite direction, as opponents of the law achieved a clear majority and a quorum that automatically binds the legislature.
Slovenski volivci zavrnili zakon o samomoru z zdravniško pomočjo
Družina, 24. november 2025/Foto: Tatjana Splichal
Slovenski volivci so na referendumu na nedeljo Kristusa Kralja zavrnili zakon o pomoči pri prostovoljnem končanju življenja: proti zakonu je glasovalo 53,44 odstotka volivcev, nasprotnikom pa je uspelo doseči tudi zavrnitveni kvorum.
Izida v podporo življenju se poleg Slovencev veselijo tudi na Hrvaškem in v drugih državah po svetu, kjer so prav tako molili za uspeh zavrnitvenega referenduma v Sloveniji. Uspeh referenduma lahko v veliki meri pripišemo podpori Katoliške Cerkve.
To je bil 34. referendum v zgodovini samostojne Slovenije. Zakon, ki je predvideval možnost medicinske pomoči pri umiranju za neozdravljivo bolne, ki so pri polni zavesti in sposobni odločanja, je v slovenski družbi povzročil globoke delitve.
Državljanska pobuda, ki je sprožila referendum, je trdila, da zakon prinaša resna etična in varnostna tveganja ter bi lahko ogrozil ranljive skupine, zlasti starejše, bolne in invalide. Pobudo so podprle Katoliška Cerkev, zdravniška združenja, pravni strokovnjaki, številne organizacije civilne družbe in opozicijske stranke. Javnomnenjske raziskave pred referendumom so sicer kazale, da več kot 54 odstotkov vprašanih podpira legalizacijo medicinske pomoči pri umiranju, dejanski izid glasovanja pa je pokazal nasprotne smernice, saj so nasprotniki zakona dosegli jasno večino in kvorum, ki samodejno zavezuje zakonodajalca.
