The Croatian public health care fund HZZO will cover the cost of pregnancy termination for Mirela Cavajda in a hospital in Ljubljana, local media learned on Wednesday. Pročitaj više

The HZZO confirmed this in a statement issued after earlier in the day the Jutarnji List daily reported that Čavajda would “most probably not have the cost of her pregnancy termination abroad covered by the HZZO.”

Cavajda is a woman six months into her pregnancy who who could not have her pregnancy terminated in Croatia despite the fetus’s serious malformations.

State agency Hina said that Jutarnji List daily said, citing “unofficial sources,” that Croatian doctors, even though they refuse to perform the procedure guaranteed by law, are also unwilling to put their refusal down in writing.

It is unclear why health professionals who are conscientious objectors insist on their objection remaining anonymous.

Jutarnji List added that hospitals have sent the HZZO notifications saying that Cavajda has been offered the necessary medical procedure – induced labour.

Since she does not want that procedure but insists on pregnancy termination, the HZZO considers this to be a refusal of the medical service offered in Croatia, which makes it questionable if there are legal grounds for the HZZO to cover the cost of the medical service she will seek in Slovenia, the daily said.

Local media have been unable so far to find out how much the procedure in Slovenia might cost.