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  • Title: A bitter pill to swallow.
    Journal: Asiaweek; 1992 Apr 24; 18(17):55. PubMed ID: 12285210.
    Abstract:
    The official number of abortions in Japan in 1991 was 457,000. That number is estimated to be 50% of the actual number as abortion is a lucrative business in Japan costing between US$525 and US$1125. In the mid-1950s the number of abortions was estimated at 1 million. The 2 primary forms of birth control in Japan are the rhythm method and the condom. Condom sales total 600 million per year. The low-dose pill is illegal, but the high-dose pill is allowed for the control of menstrual problems. Some 300,000 women take the high-dose pill, despite its readily acknowledged side effects. Another problem with oral contraceptives is a social stigma of promiscuity. Japan's pharmaceutical industry has devoted a lot of time and effort into marketing a low-dose pill. Drug companies started clinical studies in 1987 and in 1990 9 companies submitted formal requests to manufacture and market the low-dose pill. The Ministry of Health and Welfare's Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Council rejected all requests. The decision is not based on safety or effectiveness; but upon the belief by the government that the widespread use of the pill would defeat any measures to control the spread of the AIDS virus. The government feels that the condoms should be the only contraceptive available, because it is the only one that helps to control the spread of AIDS. There are more than 2600 people in Japan infected with AIDS. However, the Director General of the 16,000 member Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology contends that the pill and AIDS are 2 separate issues. A recent 1990 survey found that only 10% of Japanese women would use the low-dose pill if it were available. 75% of women who use the rhythm method claim to ask their partners to use condoms. The deputy executive director of the Family Planning Federation of Japan claims that the government is worried that the widespread use of the pill would only further decrease Japan's population growth rate, already at .4%.
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