Statement of ASAJ, of the International Safe Abortion Day Project Japan on May 31, 2021
This is the translation of the Statement on the Abandonment of a Child on the Day after Birth, by Action for Safe Abortion Japan https://2020-japan.webnode.jp/_files/200000051-260b7260b9/statement_20210531.pdf
May 31, 2021
Statement on the Abandonment of a Child on the Day after Birth
Action for Safe AbortionJapan (ASAJ)
(Within the International Safe Abortion Day Japan Project)
https://2020-japan.webnode.jp
safeabortion2020@gmail.com
Country and Society's Responsibility: Before Calling a Woman a Perpetrator
There have been reports of cases such as abandonment of children on their first day of life.
In many cases, those who cannot consult with others, give birth alone, and are judged as perpetrators. It is just too bad that they abandoned their babies for the first days of their lives and such incidents should not happen, but considering the loneliness and anxiety they had to go through during their pregnancies, one cannot help but think that they needed protection, care, and proper advice.
There must have been much that the government and society could have done before making the nevus the perpetrator.
Regarding the case of Atlantic City, Aichi Prefecture.
Recently, a 21 year old woman was sentenced to five years in jail for abandoning her baby on the first day of life. The decision is scheduled for this day, May 31.
According to reports, she "informed her classmates at primary school that she was pregnant and knew her parents and agreed to undergo an abortion. The hospital asked me to get my partner's signature on the consent form, but I could not do the operation because I could not get my classmate's signature. After that I lost contact with my classmates." "If I had been able to talk to the people around me, I don't think the baby would have died," he said.
She also said that she was unable to talk to anyone about her pregnancy, that she was unable to get consent for the abortion procedure from her partner, and that she did not receive proper advice from the hospital. It is too much for one defendant to be responsible.
The woman was given no choice but to have an abortion due to the lack of her partner's signature, and she did not have the opportunity to consider the possibility of continuing the pregnancy while continuing her studies, or to raise the baby herself, or to entrust it to her parents or adoptive parents.
Women and children should have the right to access various supports and options. Society's system for dealing with conflicted pregnant women is fragile.
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Furthermore, unmarried women could legally have an abortion without the signature of their partner.
Article 14 of the Law for the Protection of the Human Body requires the consent of the spouse (including de facto marriage) for abortion, but there is no provision to require the consent of the partner if the couple is not married (Ref. 7). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
In 2013, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) replied to the Japanese Medical Association that "those who do not marry and do not have a spouse do not need the spouse's consent" (Ref. 8).
Also, the article of the law on protection of the human body provides for abortion only with the consent of the patient if "the spouse is unknown or unable to express his/her will.
The woman has effectively lost contact with her husband and is unable to confirm her intentions. The inability to "virtually" corresponds to what the then Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHLW) described in a 1996 notice as "when the intention cannot be expressed" (Document 10).
In any case, the suspect cannot shake the suspicion that the afflicted woman was obliged to obtain the "consent of her male partner" which is not required under the Charter.
Eliminate barriers to decision-making
Her husband cut off contact with her, avoided her involvement, and left her alone. The doctor asked for the signature of the partner man, fearing trouble. As a result, the woman was forced to continue her pregnancy, resulting in the abandonment of her child for the first day of her life.
Although the crime must be punished, the "spousal consent" provision in Article 14 of the Charter and the way the law extends it to unmarried women are barriers to reproductive health and rights, and are deeply related to the occurrence of cases such as abandonment of a woman's daughter.
The woman involved in the incident was just about to give birth when she was arrested, and she is still less than a year away from giving birth. It should be remembered that they should be given the care and protection they need, no matter what the circumstances.
To prevent the repetition of incidents such as the abandonment of children for the first day after birth, we request the government to
(1) Make it known that unmarried women do not need the consent of their partners to have an abortion.
(2) Abolish the spousal consent provision of the Anti-Cancer Law, as it itself is a barrier to pregnant women's decision-making.
(3) Ensure that those who become pregnant have the opportunity to consult, consider, and choose fully about abortion, childbirth, and childcare without interrupting their studies and careers.
4）Please understand that those who cannot save their babies during the first days of life by giving birth alone without any help need significant care and protection.
