THOU SHALT NOT KILL EXCEPT... ABORTION, EUTHANASIA, SUICIDE AND THE DEATH PENALTY – JUSTIFICATION IN RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR POPULATIONS OF LATVIA

United Nations and Council of Europe documents recognize human life as a universal value. However, there are differences in the application of this principle in practice, since exceptions are allowed by the laws of different countries allowing medical abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the death penalty. In addition, citizens are not unanimous on the question of when the ending of one’s own life or that of another is justified. The aim of the article is to find out the relationship between the religious identity of the Latvian population and attitudes towards four morally controversial phenomena such as abortion, euthanasia, suicide, and the use of the death penalty, using data from the European/World Values Studies of 1996 and 2021. The article uses cluster analysis and linear regression. This study finds that in 2021, society has demonstrated less justifiability of abortion, euthanasia and suicide compared to 1996. Statistically significant differences between religious and non-religious populations are observed in attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia, while differences in attitudes towards suicide and the death penalty are less pronounced.