To buy morning-after pill, Japanese women might soon need consent from their partner

Japan is now forcing women to seek their partner’s consent to access the morning-after pill (also known as emergency contraceptive or Plan B). The law is expected to be approved in the latter half of 2022.

The morning-after pill is meant to be consumed within 72 hours after having unprotected sex to avoid pregnancy. In Japan, the morning-after pill is available through prescription only.

The director of Japan’s Health Ministry’s Child and Family Policy Bureau, Yasuhiro Hashimoto, said at a parliamentary committee, “In principle we believe that spousal consent is necessary, even if an abortion is induced by an oral medication.”

Currently, Japan is in the process of considering an application by pharmaceutical company, Linepharma International, which develops abortion pills through a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol. If approved, Linepharma will be the first company to bring medicated abortion pills in Japan.

Currently, women in Japan are only able to access surgical abortions and under the 1948 Maternal Protection Law, they need to obtain consent for the procedure.

The combination of mifepristone and misoprostol as a medicated abortion pill is currently used in 70 countries.

Japan has been led by the Liberal Democratic Party since the end of the World War II. The LDP government approved the use of oral contraceptives (such as birth-control pills) after 9 years, while it only took the government 6 months to approve of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.

Campaigners such as founding member of Action for Safe Abortion, Kumi Tsukahara, are asking health authorities to not follow through with this rule. ''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,” says Tsukahara.

The abortion pill will also not be covered under the national health insurance, meaning that it would be massively expensive for women to obtain. It is being estimated that the pill may cost around 1,00,000 Japanese Yen (US $780 or Rs 60,637).