For all women, giving birth is one of the most important events in life. This is a fact that hasn’t changed for a long time. However, it is also a fact that there are many delivery and abortion of unexpected pregnancies. This is not just an affair of other people, but an affair that could happen to almost anyone. Now each of us should consider what we can do and we should know as a person who has possibilities to take care of an irreplaceable life. This will avoid a pregnancy that is not expected.
In 1985, the ratio of induced abortion was 50.2 to the population of 1,000 women, and in 2005, that was 10.3. Though the rate of the induced abortion shows us a gradual decrease year by year, the abortion number in Japan is still much higher compared with other developed countries. One of the reasons of this is the shortage of sex education in Japan. The problem of abandoned children is also a controversial issue. The “Baby Hatch”, that was established and started to be used in 2006 in Japan, is a place where mothers can bring their babies, usually newborn, and leave them anonymously in a safe place to be found and cared for. This has caused a lot of fuss. Some people claim that it will be promote abandonment, while others are saying that it will prevent the death of the newborn baby. This is an issue that we have to discuss, but something must be done to prevent unwanted birth.
Many developed countries have taken various measures against abortion increase while Japan has taken very few measures. For example, in European countries, they built clinics where people can talk about contraception, and offers a free contraceptive or at a bargain price. The abortion number in Japan is around 330,000 a year. This is more than 6 times the number of cases of food poisoning. Most of the social efforts to reduce this are not being done, despite the government using a vast budget to reduce food poisoning. That means people consider this to be an individual problem, but actually it is a social problem.
Each of us have to take this issue very seriously. I want you to think about this to avoid a pregnancy that is not expected. I’m sure that carefully planning a pregnancy and giving birth will make you happy.
