Reproductive Rights Policy in the United States and Japan

Abstract

In this chapter, the impact of the landmark abortion Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade (410 US 113; 1973) on reproductive rights policy in the United States will be assessed and compared with related policy in Japan. The historic ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide in the fifty American states, had unforeseen consequences resulting in mobilization and polarization, which have persisted during the ensuing decades. In contrast to Japan, where relatively free access to abortion was a legacy of the post-war period, in the United States a reciprocal dynamic was created in which exclusive moral perspectives and identity politics prevented compromise, despite the continued activism of the feminist movement on this issue, considered “the core” concern for many (Warren, 2001).