For 28 September in 2024, we support #Abortion solidarity! We believe knowledge is power, so we decided to share our knowledge and experience!!
In our group, RHR Literacy Labs, we decided to organise an online event and invite some of our members from around the world to report on the abortion situation in their respective countries. Then we compared it to the current situation in Japan – especially in relation to the lack of deregulation after the approval of abortion pills in Japan last year.
We learned from our members in Norway, China and Brazil that their countries each had completely different abortion situations. For us in Japan, the event provided us with a good opportunity to reflect on the current state of abortion in Japan.
Specifically, a lawsuit has been filed in Japan, and one of the plaintiffs is an RHR Literacy Labs staff member. The title of the lawsuit is: “My body is not the mother”. The lawsuit is challenging the fact that in Japanese law, people are not allowed to choose to be sterilised of their own volition, they need “permission”. This is exactly the same as not being able to choose to have an abortion voluntarily. One also needs to get permission for that.
In regard to pregnancy, we believe women should be free to give birth or not! And that the state should not intervene in our bodies!
In solidarity, Kumi Tsukahara in Japan, for RHR Literacy Labs