For more available, accessible and affordable abortion pills!
#Action for Safer Abortion (ASAJ) issued a request on May 8, 2023 to the following people and held a press conference on the same day at 11:00 am. This is a private, tentative translation of said request.
May 8, 2023
Mr. Katsunobu Kato, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
Mr. Masanobu Ogura, Minister of State for Special Missions, Cabinet Office
Ms. Yumiko Watanabe, Director-General of the Administration for Children and Families
Dr. Yoshiro Matsumoto, President, Japan Medical Association
Mr. Isamu Ishiwata, President, Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
#Action for Safer Abortion (ASAJ)
https://www.asaj2020.org/
safeabortion2020@gmail.com
Request on "Notes on the Use of Mefeego Packs
We are a group working for the decriminalization of abortion and improved access to safe abortion. We are submitting a request (*) regarding the document on proper use, etc. published on the website of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in relation to the approval of the manufacture and sale of drugs for oral abortion.
(*)https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/iyakuhin/topics/infertility_treatment_00001.html, Viewed April 28, 2023
(1) "For the time being until the appropriate system for the use of this drug is established
"For the time being," the MHLW recommends that the period of time spent on evaluation be kept to the minimum necessary, and that subsequent hospital stays be made only when a woman wishes to do so.
(2) Cost Burden
Abortion is a medical treatment that affects the lives, livelihood and health of many people living in Japan.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) should make abortion either covered by insurance or subsidized by public funds.
Doctors should set accessible fees for abortions using oral abortion pills.
(3) Spousal Consent
Spousal consent should not be required for the use of abortion pills. Maternal Body Protection Laws that require spousal consent for abortion violate reproductive rights.
(4) Provision of Information
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) should provide scientifically based information on oral abortion pills and supervise medical institutions to ensure that they do not disseminate incorrect information.
The end.
