Japan to approve abortion pill – but partner’s consent mandatory

The new legislation would require women in Japan to seek their partner’s consent before being prescribed the abortion pill, which will reportedly be approved late this year. Under Japan’s 1948 Maternal Protection Law, consent is already required for surgical abortions, with very few exceptions.

This move comes three decades after abortion pills were approved in the United Kingdom.

“In principle, we believe that spousal consent is necessary, even if an abortion is induced by an oral medication,” Yasuhiro Hashimoto, a senior health ministry official, told a parliamentary committee earlier this month, according to Bloomberg.

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Kumi Tsukahara, a founding member of Action for Safe Abortion Japan, said: “‘Spousal consent’ becomes an issue when there is a disagreement with the spouse or the spouse is forcing the woman to give birth against her will.

“For women, being forced into a pregnancy they do not want is violence and a form of torture.”

Cases have been seen where doctors in Japan refused to approve an abortion for women who had been sexually assaulted, forcing health ministry officials to write to the Japan Medical Association to clarify that consent is not required in rape cases.

The delay in approving the pill tramples women’s reproductive rights, and the possible $780 cost, reflects the priorities of the male-dominated parliament.

Oral contraceptives were only legalised in 1999 after a drawn-out nine-year legal debate, Japanese politicians took just six months to approve Viagra, the erectile dysfunction medication produced by Pfizer Inc.

"In principle, we believe that spousal consent is necessary, even if an abortion is induced by an oral medication," said Yasuhiro Hashimoto, the head of the ministry's child and family policy bureau.

But Mizuho Fukushima, a politician from the opposition Social Democratic Party, was critical of the ministry's position, asking the hearing, "Why should a woman need her partner's approval? It's her body."

"Women are not the property of men", she added. "Their rights, not those of the menshould be protected."

Around 145,000 surgical abortions were carried out in Japan in 2020, which is one of only Il nations that still require the consent of the woman's partner for the procedure to go ahead. This requirement has been criticised by the World Health Organisation.

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