01-06-2022, 11:32 AM
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Tue 31 May 2022 06.36 BST
Last modified on Tue 31 May 2022 19.38 BST
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.
......
Campaigners are calling on health authorities to ditch the rule requiring women to gain written consent from their partners before a doctor can prescribe a course of abortion drugs.
......
Japan, where 145,000 surgical abortions were carried out in 2020, is one of only 11 countries that require third-party consent for abortions, despite calls to end the practice by the World Health Organization and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
......
Campaigners for safe abortion have warned that the abortion pill, which will not be covered by national health insurance, will be prohibitively expensive for many women.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/m...e-required
Tue 31 May 2022 06.36 BST
Last modified on Tue 31 May 2022 19.38 BST
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.
......
Campaigners are calling on health authorities to ditch the rule requiring women to gain written consent from their partners before a doctor can prescribe a course of abortion drugs.
......
Japan, where 145,000 surgical abortions were carried out in 2020, is one of only 11 countries that require third-party consent for abortions, despite calls to end the practice by the World Health Organization and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
......
Campaigners for safe abortion have warned that the abortion pill, which will not be covered by national health insurance, will be prohibitively expensive for many women.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/m...e-required