Japan lagging in reproductive rights

Japan is one of only 11 of the world's countries that have not authorized the oral contraceptive pill for contraceptive purposes, noted Margaret Catley-Carlson, president, Population Council. Catley-Carlson made her comments on the low-dose pill at a special lecture meeting in Tokyo on October 14 where she served as guest speaker. The meeting was organized by the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA) in cooperation with the Family Planning Federation of Japan (FPFJ), and JOICFP. It was attended by medical experts, parliamentarians, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media. During her lecture, Catley-Carlson noted the emphasis on women's empowerment and reproductive health and rights for women made in the World Population Program of Action adopted at the recent International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. She emphasized that NGOs have an important role to play in realizing the goals of the program of action. Widening the choice of contraceptives, an important reproductive health issue, is the responsibility of the service providers including NGOs, she added. Noting the relatively high rate of induced abortion in Japan, Catley-Carlson commented that the lack of access to the low-dose pill is not desirable from the perspective of reproductive health and rights. She called for widening the choice of contraceptives in Japan to include the low-dose pill and a wider selection of IUDs to promote reproductive health.