ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how state policies and society’s perception of the reproductive functions of women have a strong impact on women’s reproductive rights in Japan. Here we examine not only how the state encroaches on women’s contraceptive choices and decisions about getting married and having a family, but also the relationship between social and cultural norms of family and motherhood and women’s reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are, “the basic rights for all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to the highest attainable standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence” (United Nations 1994, para. 7.3). Reproductive health and rights encompass sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth (reproduction), and should be addressed from the viewpoint of rights and health of individuals and couples, especially women, throughout their lifecycle (Ashino 2005, 11). There is a heavy focus on abortion in scholarly and activist discourse regarding
reproductive rights in Japan because it is undoubtedly a fundamental issue in debates over reproductive rights. However, the reproductive rights of women in Japan should be understood not only in terms of abortion and contraceptive use, but also in terms of general trends involving reproductive activities (birth rate, marriage and childrearing, sexual health, access to information and services related to reproductive health), and policies and legislation relating to family planning. As Cho (1997) argues, in reality the concept of reproductive rights is not a simple matter of individuals’ choices and rights. Reproduction has social, cultural and political functions, and these functions have an especially critical impact on women. Since women’s reproductive choices and activities are shaped by their legal, social, economic, and cultural context, it is important to assess how these factors shape the reproductive choices, practices, and rights of women in Japan. Our analysis of women’s reproductive rights in Japan considers the context of the
falling birth rate, the high rate of abortion among younger women, the low rate of other forms of contraceptive, particularly the Pill, and the co-existence of a legal ban on abortion with the Maternal Protection Act allowing women to have an abortion under certain circumstances. In particular, we assess to what extent Japanese women have control over their reproductive activities by exploring how women’s choices to have children or not are influenced by state policies and laws, gendered employment systems, and societal and cultural norms regarding family and motherhood.
