Slovenia's Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that women who are single, lesbian or both must be granted the right to artificial insemination on the grounds the current prohibition is discriminatory.
In 2001 the Alpine EU country's parliament extended the right to artificial insemination to single women and women who do not have sex with men.
But a referendum called by the conservative opposition rejected the changes.
Several EU countries such as Belgium, Spain and Sweden already offer support for single or lesbian women to get pregnant.
Slovenia's Constitutional Court gave parliament a one-year deadline to pass the legislation needed to amend the current law.
"The current legislation that denies access to artificial insemination to single women and women in same-sex relationships breaches their rights to a non-discriminatory treatment when exercising the right to birth children," the court said in a ruling published on its website.
Liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob's Freedom Movement welcomed the court's ruling and announced it would prepare the legislation needed to implement it.
In 2020, a group of lawmakers led by a leftist junior coalition partner asked the court to verify whether the legislation adopted in 2000 breached the constitutional rights of single women.
That law - which predated the legalisation of same-sex marriage - allowed only married women and women in relationships with men access to artificial insemination.
In 2001 the Slovenian parliament passed an amendment extending the right to artificial insemination to unmarried women who are infertile or who do not want to have sexual relations with men.
But 72 percent of the country's two million citizens rejected the changes at a referendum called by the conservative opposition.
Slovenia's parliament legalised gay marriage in 2022, after the Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples could legally marry and adopt children.
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