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Columbia Dissertations and Theses > Doctoral Dissertations
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| Author(s): | Norgren, Christiana A. E. |
| Title: | Abortion before birth control : the politics of reproduction in postwar Japan |
| Physical Description: | iii, 320 leaves, bound. |
| Issue Date: | 1998 |
| Description: | Department: Political Science. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 1998. |
| Bookmark as: | http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:3262 |
| Full Text (ProQuest): | /ac/proxit.jsp?url=http://gateway.proquest.com/ope... |
| Abstract: | The puzzle that this study explores is, Why is abortion policy in Japan relatively liberal, whereas contraception policy is relatively conservative? Third trimester abortions have been legal in Japan since 1948, but Japan is one of only two or three countries in the world that have not yet approved oral contraceptives (also known as "the pill"). I argue that Japan's contradictory abortion and contraception policies are products of very different historical circumstances and in particular, very different interest group configurations. Doctors took advantage of the small window of opportunity presented by the Allied occupation to create Japan's liberal abortion law, which furthered their medical, professional, and financial interests. Subsequently, doctors and women struggled for 25 years to maintain the liberal law in the face of a religious anti-abortion movement. The pill, on the other hand, first appeared at an unfavorable moment in history, when economic recovery and drug-related scandals dominated the public consciousness, and when concerns over the declining birth rate were beginning to surface. More important, while abortion was still illegal in most other countries when the pill came on the market, in Japan abortion was legalized before oral contraceptives were invented. This unusual circumstance led to the creation of groups with a vested interest in abortion. Thus, until recently, the pharmaceutical industry was the pill's lone champion: doctors, midwives, family planners, and women opposed the pill as a threat to their livelihoods, abortion rights, and women's health. In general, the cases of abortion and contraception policymaking suggest that civil society in Japan is more robust than is often acknowledged in the academic literature and the popular press. |
| Collection(s): | Doctoral Dissertations |
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