Box 21 Lack of access to a full range of family planning methods is a problem in some developed countries as well as in developing ones. Japan, for example, continues to ban oral contraceptives. Japanese physicians are allowed to dispense the pill only from their offices or clinics, and only for health purposes other than family planning.
Critics charge that the policy increases the incidence of abortion.
Japan is the only developed nation that still bans the pill. An estimated 200,000 Japanese women currently use the higher-dose pills. The health ministry's previous plan to remove the ban was reversed in 1992, when it said increased use of the pill would reduce the use of condoms, resulting in an increase in HIV infections. The gynaecologists' association, JFPA and FPFJ, however, point to various studies that show no correlation between the HIV infection rate and the availability of the pill. Researchers estimate the ratio of unmarried women's abortions to pregnancies carried to term is considerably higher.