Recent Legal Changes

1) Enhancing women's health education and counseling support

Public health centers, women's centers and medical institutions have implemented since FY l996 "Projects to support the Health of Women throughout their Life" consisting of "health education" to maintain good health throughout life, "general consultation" to cope with health problems peculiar to women, and "consultation on sterility", to provide proper consultation and guidance to married couples distressed by sterility.

2) Supporting the health of pregnant women and childbirth

a) Providing maternal and child health services from pregnancy to childbirth

As a result of the revision of the Maternal and Child Health Law, since April l997 municipalities began to offer basic health services from the time when a notice of pregnancy is filed until the time when the child reaches the school age.

b) Enhancing perinatal medical care

In FY l996, the Government began promoting establishment of a perinatal medical system for pregnant women and newborn infants in every prefecture.

3) Promoting measures to prevent osteoporosis

Checkups for osteoporosis are conducted for the women at the age of forty and of fifty, as part of health examinations covered by the Health and Medical Service Law for the Aged.

4) Amendment to the Eugenic Protection Law

In view of discriminatory expressions against persons with disabilities in some sections of the Law based on the eugenic idea of preventing dysgenic posterity births, stipulations based on the eugenic idea were deleted from the provisions on abortion etc., and the Law was converted into the Maternal Protection Law, enforced on September, l996.