Abortion Pill: What is Japan debating?

A senior official from the health ministry clarified to the parliament that consent from one's partner would be the primary mandate prior to it being administered.

The news broke out at a time when discussions on Roe v. Wade Case in the US continued to hold up. It only propounds that the government in Japan is still far from practicing gender quality and advocacy for the reproductive health and wellness of women.

Japan has a long-standing history of gender bias and a patriarchal mindset, which also gets evidenced in the legal proceedings.


While medically induced abortions have been legalized in several countries around the globe, already, it is alarming to note that Japan has only arrived at the usage of contraceptives, that too only by 3 per cent of the entire Japanese women population.

Pro-choice campaigners cannot help but exclaim that a nation that takes over three decades to sanction birth control pills to women only takes less than six months to make Viagra accessible to men experiencing impotence.

Dr. Tsugio, the head of the Gynaecological Association of Japan, in a recent interview remarked that a woman taking the abortion pill would have to be hospitalized in order to be monitored. According to him, the entire process is expected to be lengthier than a surgically administered abortion.

He also added that selling the abortion pill would still be illegal and difficult to obtain over the counters as the Maternal Health Protection Act of the nation clearly pronounces that abortion must be performed in a medical facility.



Female wellness activists are of the opinion that it is rather to trigger businesses of medical establishments and has very less to do with what medical science suggests.

Asuka Someya, a campaigner, commented that these decisions are conveniently taken by men who do not even bear bodies that can carry a child. And therefore, making the process of abortion more complex and controlled by establishments that are male-dominated.

The ultimate way out from this imperious system is through effective sex education and better autonomy for Japanese women through policies that listen to and empower the women's voices.