Research Catalog

Abortion before birth control : the politics of reproduction in postwar Japan

Title
Abortion before birth control : the politics of reproduction in postwar Japan / Tiana Norgren.
Author
Norgren, Christiana A. E., 1970-
Publication
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2001.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Book/TextUse in library HQ767.5.J3 N67 2001Off-site

Details

Description
xiii, 242 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
Summary
Why has postwar Japanese abortion policy been relatively progressive, while contraception policy has been relatively conservative? The Japanese government legalized abortion in 1948 but did not approve the pill until 1999. In this carefully researched study, Tiana Norgren argues that these contradictory policies flowed from very different historical circumstances and interest group configurations. Doctors and family planners used a small window of opportunity during the Occupation to legalize abortion, and afterwards, doctors and women battled religious groups to uphold the law. The pill, on the other hand, first appeared at an inauspicious moment in history. Until circumstances began to change in the mid-1980s, the pharmaceutical industry was the pill's lone champion: doctors, midwives, family planners, and women all opposed the pill as a potential threat to their livelihoods, abortion rights, and women's health. Clearly written and interwoven with often surprising facts about Japanese history and politics, Norgren's book fills vital gaps in the cross-national literature on the politics of reproduction, a subject that has received more attention in the European and American contexts. Abortion Before Birth Control will be a valuable resource for those interested in abortion and contraception policies, gender studies, modern Japanese history, political science, and public policy.
Series Statement
Studies of the East Asian Institute
Uniform Title
Studies of the East Asian Institute.
Subject
  • Since 1945
  • Abortion > Japan
  • Birth control > Government policy > Japan
  • Family size > Japan
  • Women > Japan > Social conditions
  • Abortion
  • Oral contraceptives
  • Abortion, Legal
  • Public Policy
  • Contraceptives, Oral
  • Legislation as Topic
  • Oral contraceptives
  • Abortion
  • Birth control > Government policy
  • Family size
  • Social conditions
  • Women > Social conditions
  • Anticonceptie
  • Abortus provocatus
  • Avortement > Japon > 1945- ..
  • Régulation des naissances > Politique publique > Japon > 1945- ..
  • Famille > Dimension > Japon > 1945- ..
  • Femmes > Japon > Conditions sociales
  • Japan > Social conditions > 1945-
  • Japan
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. The Politics of Interests -- Ch. 3. For the Good of the Nation: Prewar Abortion and Contraception Policy -- Ch. 4. Japan Legalizes Abortion: The Intersection of National and Professional Interests -- Ch. 5. The Politics of Abortion: Movements to Revise the Eugenic Protection Law (1952-2000) -- Ch. 6. Abortion before Birth Control: Japanese Contraception Policy (1945-1960) -- Ch. 7. The Politics of the Pill (1955-2000) -- Ch. 8. Conclusion.
ISBN
  • 0691070040
  • 9780691070049
  • 0691070059
  • 9780691070056
LCCN
00066941
OCLC
  • ocm45439964
  • 45439964
  • SCSB-1220602
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library