The censorship of pro-life bus advertisements amounts to discrimination, according to the national Slovenian equality body.

A pro-life NGO had contracted a state-owned bus company, who had agreed to display their ads for a couple of months. However, the municipal authorities had deemed the messages “We love Life!”, “You are not alone”, “Step out of Silence” and “I mourn my child”, accompanied by pictures of a happy family, a grieving mother and a woman holding a pregnancy test to be “intolerant”. They subsequently instructed the bus company to remove them after just over one week.

However, the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, has ruled the municipal authorities were wrong.

The pro-life NGO welcomed the decision: “Every life is valuable. We want to stand by women in crisis, especially those facing unplanned pregnancies or the loss of a child. Our bus ad was meant to show them that they are not alone. We are glad that the state equality body agreed that our ad should not have been removed. Whether you agree or disagree with the work of Zavod ŽIV!M, everyone should be able to agree that it is wrong for the state to simply censor messages with which it disagrees. We seek to offer hope and support to many in difficult situations,” said Darja Pečnik, the director of Zavod ŽIV!M.