Abortion pill: Why Japanese women will need their partner’s consent to get a tablet

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, Tokyo
Aug 30, 2022

While debate still rages in the US over the repeal of Roe v Wade, a much less noisy argument is unfolding in Japan over the legalisation of so-called medically induced abortions.

In May, a senior health ministry official told parliament it was finally set to approve an abortion pill manufactured by British pharmaceutical company Linepharma International. But he also said that women will still need to "gain the consent of their partner" before the pills can be administered - a stipulation pro-choice campaigners have called patriarchal and outdated.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62515356

Japan to approve abortion pill – but partner’s consent will be required

Delay in approving pill, and the possible $780 cost, reflect priorities of male-dominated parliament, say critics

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Tue 31 May 2022

Women in Japan could be forced to seek their partner’s consent before being prescribed the abortion pill, which will reportedly be approved late this year – three decades after it was made available to women in the UK.

Under Japan’s 1948 Maternal Protection Law, consent is already required for surgical abortions – with very few exceptions – a policy that campaigners say tramples over women’s reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/31/japan-to-approve-abortion-pill-but-partners-consent-will-be-required