Outsourcing Reproductive Care: The Restrictive Regime of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Abstract

Japan is a developed country where many women, having obtained a higher education and entered the labour force, increasingly postpone childbirth and motherhood beyond their most fertile years. Whilst such a trend has been documented almost everywhere in the developed world, what is conspicuous about the particular case of Japan is how limited these women are when it comes to their options to build a family through assisted reproduction. This article puts the spotlight on five kinds of fertility patients in Japan who, by being largely denied access to assisted reproduction domestically, are pushed to seek solutions abroad, driving the regional (and global) demand for such arrangements. The article identifies as instrumental to this trend the restrictive regime created by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.