Cardinal Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo denounced Japan’s recent decision to sell over-the-counter contraceptive pills that can cause abortion, telling UCA News in an Oct. 23 report that it puts human lives at risk.
According to LiveAction, ASKA Pharmaceutical, which manufactures the abortifacient “morning after” contraceptive pill Norlevo, announced earlier this month that the drug would be switching to over-the-counter availability in Japan. Previously, it required a prescription and doctor’s exam.
Cardinal Kikuchi told UCA News that he “cannot approve measures that may take human life without adequate moral education,” even though “many view the decision as part of efforts to safeguard women’s health and dignity.”
The outlet reports that the cardinal also said he understands that the switch is widely believed to contribute to women’s “right to self-determination,” but “from the Catholic standpoint, life is a gift from God.”
There is no requirement for a purchaser to have reached a certain age or obtained parental consent, but they must take the pill in the presence of a pharmacist, according to LiveAction.
In 2010, when Norlevo was set to be approved for marketing and pharmaceutical manufacturing, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan spoke out strongly against it.
“Emergency contraceptives are intended to bring about deliberate abortion,” they said, according to UCA News. “Artificial abortion contradicts the moral duty to respect human life. Since emergency contraceptives may prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum, they are, in effect, abortifacient.”
In April 2024, VOA reported that 3% of all facilities that commit surgical abortions in Japan provide abortion pills. Japan first approved the use of abortion pills in April 2023; before that, surgical abortions were the only type legally permitted.
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