ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the conversations with some of the participants in the study who dealt with unwanted pregnancies. Different from prevailing social expectations, marrying for Urayasu-san was a rather instrumental decision that did not seem to have involved covering up the embarrassment of a premarital pregnancy. The problem of unplanned sexual intercourse after consuming alcoholic beverages and ensuing unwanted pregnancies is pointed up in the interview with Iidabashi-san, the mother of one child aged eight who completed a three-year junior college programme and gave up her full-time job after becoming pregnant and who is now working in part-time jobs. The combination of sex and alcohol consumption was largely problematic for some of the mothers who faced unwanted pregnancies. The government is particularly keen on promoting childbirth and welcomes any change that could encourage population growth; unplanned pregnancies, however, are problematic because they do not tend to occur at the 'right' age for a woman.
