Birth control in Japan

Various types of birth control in Japan are available to women either in drugstores, online, or through visiting a clinic. About 80 percent of married women in Japan prefer condoms as their choice of birth control.[1] This leads them to the least amount of embarrassment while taking part in sexual activity.[2] Other forms of birth control such as the morning after pill are available only through visitation of a clinic.

Oral contraceptives, which were legalized in 1999, are not covered by Japanese Health Insurance.[1]

History

In 1953 the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare established the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA), however did not provide it with any government funding.[3] By the 1960s Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had begun considering the legalization of birth control pills, but by 1989, they had still not reached a decision. There were concerns that access to birth control pills would reduce condom use, and thereby increase STI rates. There were also concerns about the medication's side effects. In 1999, low dose forms of the pill were approved by the Clinic of Japan Family Planning Association, coinciding with the acceptance of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.[1][4]

References
  1. Kato, Mariko (2009-10-20). "Abortion still key birth control". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  2. Coleman, S. (January 1981). "The cultural context of condom use in Japan". Studies in Family Planning. 12 (1): 28–39. doi:10.2307/1965861. ISSN 0039-3665. PMID 7466888.
  3. Coleman, Samuel, 1946- (1983). Family planning in Japanese society : traditional birth control in a modern urban culture. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03133-9. OCLC 9393898.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Norgren, Tiana (2001). Abortion Before Birth Control: The Politics of Reproduction in Postwar Japan. Princeton University Press. pp. 128–130. ISBN 0691070040.
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