You have the right to access reproductive and sexual health care services and the necessary medical treatment in a timely manner. The State must ensure that you have equal access to state-paid medical services.
Access to medical treatment
You have the right to access the medical treatment you need for the protection of your sexual and reproductive health. The medical services and treatment must be qualitative and available in a timely manner. Your rights as a patient are set out in the Patients’ Rights Act and include the right to equal access to medical treatment. Your right to equally access and to obtain in a timely manner, those general health care services to which you are entitled under Slovenian law, is part of the human right to health.
Spheres of medical assistance & State funding
In the context of reproductive and sexual health, you have the right to receive medical treatment:
- during pregnancy and childbirth
- for birth control and in the case of termination of pregnancy
- for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS
- in order to treat diseases of the reproductive organs and infertility, including artificial procreation
Access to the reproductive and sexual health care system does not mean that the State has to provide all medical treatment free of charge. Taking into account its financial resources and other aspects, the State may decide the types of medical treatment services that it may fully or partially finance. The types of reproductive and sexual health care services that are state-funded, and the conditions and the extent to which such funding applies, are set out in the Health Care and Health Insurance Act and related regulations.
example The State fully finances assistance in childbirth in hospitals. However, Slovenian law does not provide for free medical assistance during home birth.
Information about reproductive and sexual health
Access to reproductive and sexual health care is closely connected and, to a large extent, depends on the information you receive about the state of your health and the medical treatment you need. Read more about access to information about your reproductive and sexual health.
What human rights violation may there be?
If you do not have access to the reproductive and sexual health care services you need, or they are not qualitative and available in a timely manner, your right to health may be violated. In extreme situations, a lack of adequate medical care can lead to a violation of the right to life.
Since aspects of your reproductive and sexual health are closely linked to your private life, such as your right to privacy or your choice to become a parent, this may also lead to a violation of your right to a private life.
If medical treatment is denied only because you belong to a group with certain characteristics, associated with your race, origin, religious beliefs, political affiliation, sexual orientation or other similar grounds, it may violate the prohibition on discrimination and unequal treatment.
Read more about medical negligence and how to complain where your rights have been violated.