(LifeSiteNews) – The Japanese Ministry of Health has given its first approval for a “morning after” emergency contraceptive pill to be sold over the counter in an alarming shift for a country already facing a population crisis.
The Japan Times reported that Aska Pharmaceutical’s NorLevo, which claims 80% success in preventing pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after intercourse, will be available without a prescription potentially before the end of the current fiscal year. There will be no limit on the age of the user or any parental consent requirement, although the user will still be required to take it in the presence of a pharmacist.
The decision is a significant liberalization from the status quo in Japan, where abortion is legal but subject to several restrictions, including a 22-week gestational limit and specific justification such as supposed health dangers, economic hardship, rape, or written consent from the baby’s father.
So-called “emergency contraception” is often misleadingly promoted as a way to prevent the “need” for abortion, but in fact brands of levonorgestrel such as NorLevo or Plan B do have the capacity to function as abortifacients, and whether they prevent a new human life from being conceived in the first place or destroy an already-created embryonic human by preventing implantation depends on when they are taken relative to a woman’s cycle.
“If Plan B is taken five to two days before egg release is due to happen, the interference with the LH signal prevents a woman from releasing an egg, no fertilization happens, and no embryo is formed,” Dr. Donna Harrison of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists explained, citing numerous studies. However, if the pill is taken during the “two-day window in which embryos can form but positive pregnancy tests don’t occur,” studies indicate it “has a likely embryocidal effect in stopping pregnancy.”
The move comes as Japan struggles to reverse an ongoing population decline. “Since peaking at 126.6 million in 2009, the population has declined for 16 consecutive years,” CNN reported in August, highlighting another drop of more than 900,000 the country experienced in 2024, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
All eyes are currently on Japan’s recently elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first woman to hold the office, for how she plans to address the situation. Takaichi has been described as “right-wing” and an opponent of the LGBT agenda.
“Takaichi has signaled support for pro-natalist policies, such as expanding childcare and parental leave, but remains hesitant to embrace large-scale immigration, a politically sensitive issue among her conservative base,” First Post reported.
