Japan approves first abortion pill amid outcry, declining fertility rate

June 21, 2023

The Japanese health ministry has approved the country’s first abortion pill, which some sectors see as a victory for reproductive rights and women’s health. However, pro-life groups and conservatives continue to oppose the Ministry of Health’s pharmaceutical board’s approval of Mefeego Pack, an abortion pill manufactured by British pharmaceutical Linepharma.

According to reports, campaigners for reproductive health rights and gender equality perceive the pill’s approval as limiting women’s ability to make autonomous decisions about their bodies, including regulating their own pregnancies.

The pill pack, considered as effective, contains two types of pharmaceuticals, mifepristone and misoprostol, both of which are on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of essential medicines. The oral drug Mefeego is for the medical termination of pregnancies of up to 63 days gestation, reports say.

In clinical trials, 60% of medical abortions performed with the pill pack were confirmed four hours after the second dose, increasing to 90% after eight hours. Abortion was unsuccessful in less than 10% of cases after 24 hours.

Surgical treatments – the curettage method and the evacuation method – are now the only options for abortion in Japan. According to Japan’s existing abortion laws, women can only get an abortion if a pregnancy threatens their physical health for bodily or financial reasons, or if they became pregnant as a result of rape.

WHO emphasized in its recommendations on its explainer, Self-care interventions-self-management of medical abortion that access to safe and legal abortion is a crucial component of sexual and reproductive health services. Between 2010 and 2014, an estimated 25% of all pregnancies ended in abortion worldwide.

However, there are contemporary hurdles to health-care systems’ ability to deliver medical abortion services, according to WHO, adding that medical abortion can be performed with mifepristone and misoprostol tablets in combination or misoprostol alone, and that it is a non-invasive and highly accepted alternative for pregnant women.

Meanwhile, according to Macrotrends, the current birth rate for Japan in 2023 is 7.013 births per 1000 people, a 1.35% decrease from 2022, while the birth rate for Japan in 2022 was 7.109 births per 1000 people, a 1.33% decrease from 2021.

Health Care Asia
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