Slovenia's Constitutional Court has ruled legislation that bars single women and women in same-sex relationships from accessing assisted reproduction procedures unconstitutional. The National Assembly must amend the law accordingly within a year. Until then, the existing provisions will remain in force.

The Treatment of Infertility and in Vitro Fertilisation Procedures Act was originally passed in 2000. Less than a year later, in April 2001, the liberal Janez Drnovšek government spearheaded amendments that would have allowed single women access to such procedures.

The amended act was however quashed in a referendum called by opponents two months later. It was rejected by 73.3% of the voters on a turnout of 35.7%.

Almost two decades later, in October 2020, a group of MPs led by Matej T. Vatovec of the Left submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court to review the law's constitutionality. Roughly a year later, Advocate of the Principle of Equality Miha Lobnik submitted a similar request.

After reviewing both cases jointly, the Constitutional Court concluded after four years of deliberation that the exclusion of single women and women in same-sex marriages or partnerships from accessing in vitro fertilisation procedures violates the Constitution.

The ruling, issued on 26 November, states that the challenged provisions interfere with the right of women in same-sex marriages, partnerships, and single women to non-discriminatory treatment, as outlined in Article 14, paragraph 1, in connection with Article 55 of the Constitution.

This is because access to assisted reproduction procedures is denied solely based on personal circumstances such as sexual orientation and marital status.

Since annulling the law over the unconstitutionality would create a legal vacuum, the court issued a declaratory decision tasking the National Assembly to tackle the matter within a year.

To avoid unconstitutional legal uncertainty that could disrupt assisted reproduction procedures, the court determined that the act's contentious provisions will continue to apply until the inconsistency is addressed.

The ruling was welcomed by the ruling centre-left coalition, in particular the Left, while the Freedom Movement pledged to move swiftly to implement the court's decision.

"This corrects one of the gravest injustices done to women by right-wing politics and the Catholic Church in Slovenia, who denied women the right to become mothers," the Left said.

The conservative opposition party New Slovenia (NSi) was negatively surprised, arguing the Constitutional Court overlooked the best interest of the child.