Opinion Contraception By JEFF KINGSTON	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
避妊法をめぐって 菅厚相は、経口避妊薬の使用を認めるという政府の方針を発表した。ピルはほぼ100％の避妊率を誇るが、副作用や、エイズなど性病のまん延を招くという理由で、解禁に反対する声も多い。しかし…。

Naoto Kan, one of the few politicians with guts in Japan, has announced that the government plans to approve use of the birth control pill. Finally, women in Japan can join 90 million women worldwide who safely use low dosage tablets. The lifting of the ban on oral contraceptives is the right thing to do. For too long Japanese women have been denied a choice for spurious reasons.

Medical experts in Japan argue that the pill has been banned to protect women from potentially harmful side effects. However, the result of relying on the condom, the leading birth control method in Japan, has been a very high number of abortions. Rubbers have a notoriously high failure rate ―about 15 percent of pregnancies are attributed to such failures.

The pill is nearly 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. If medical experts are so concerned about the side effects of birth control pills, what about the various medical problems associated with abortions and unwanted pregnancies? Doctors know that pregnancy itself is potentially more harmful to a women's health than the new low dosage pills and early termination of pregnancy by abortion is also potentially more dangerous.

Women need reliable contraception. Last year 343,000 women reported having abortions in Japan, one of the highest rates per capita among developed nations. Allowing women to use the pill would drastically reduce the number of women having abortions. Doctors who perform abortions are likely to lose a big chunk of income. I do not agree with Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. who want to eliminate the choice of abortion. Rather, it is important to understand the economic reasons why the pill has been banned in Japan, and the health reasons why it should be approved.

There is also concern that legalizing the pill might lead to a spread of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), including HIV. But even without the pill, STDs have been spreading in Japan. Condoms can help prevent STDs, but only if they are used. The spread of STDs in Japan confirms suspicions that sexual partner don't always practice safe sex. Studies do not reveal any correlation between the prevalence of the pill and STDs in other countries. Safe sex, good communication and responsible attitudes and practices are the answer, with or without the pill.

About 200,000 Japanese women have been using high dosage pills often prescribed for menstrual problems. Ironically, this exception permitting the use of higher dosage pills means that Japanese women are only able to get pills with more potential for harmful side effects.

The issue of side effects also needs to be scrutinized. There is some suspicion that the pill increases a women's risk of breast cancer, thrombosis and blood clots but there is also evidence suggesting that the pill protects women from cancer of the uterus. It also seems that newer, lower dosage pills do not carry the same risk as pills used by patients in previous clinical trials. What does seem certain is that cigarettes are far more damaging to a women's health than any pill. If women are given the choice of smoking, why not given them the choice of reliable birth control?

ST

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