No. of abortions down nationwide, says health ministry

Following the downward trend in sexual activity in Japan?

A ministry spokesperson said that the reduction could be related to

As mitoguitarman noted, this could be related to any number of things. Just off the top of my head:

Lowest number of sexually active kids in years

lowest number of kids in years

lowest number of sexual encounters in years

the highest numbers of people choosing twitter over sex...

higher amounts of stigma against abortion

I hate it when governments try and guess the reasons behind complicated social statistics like this, or even worse, try and claim credit when they really have no clue...

Bad economy so no ¥¥¥ $$$ to pay for abortions??? Lower abortions and?? A higher rate of poor babies being abandoned right after birth in toilets?? Train station lockers??

Gaijinfo, you left one out: have the baby and kill it later.

I agree with hereforever: People are just substituting proper abortions with murdering their child a couple years later instead. This news is not something you want to advertize.

During the same time period, has the birthrate increased, decreased or stayed the same?

Number of coin-locker babies up.

Apart from the rumour-mill level interpretation of the statistics, and the random nature of the numbers quoted, it's what's not mentioned here that interests me. I would like to know abortion statistics for 2011 as against previous years by prefecture. In particular, do the official statistics back up assertions that abortions have gone up in Fukushima and neighbouring prefectures since 3-11? I think it's positive if the number of younger women having abortions falls, but if on the other hand, women in their late 20s or their 30s, in relationships are having a higher proportion of terminations, why might that be? What about at least a reference to the source of the statistics so people can take a look for themselves, JT?

Yup! Just because abortions are down does not mean that babies are not being left to die in coin lockers, toilets etc...I do hope I'm not repeating myself??

I was actually wondering about the statistics of abandoned babies are too. I am not really pro abortion but it is far more humane than leaving a new born baby to die alone.

When broken down by prefecture, the highest number of terminations was reported in Tottori, the least populous prefecture in Japan,

Odd. I'd like to see a per capita breakdown.

44,000 dead babies is stilll 44,000 too many dead babies.

@Traveling... it is 202,106 nationwide...

Human Life is the most precious gift. I wish more people would agree...

gaijinfoOct. 27, 2012 - 07:16AM JST lowest number of kids in years

My bet is on this one. Less kids under 15 = less abortions amongst kids under 15. Simple math.

TravelingSalesOct. 28, 2012 - 12:04AM JST 44,000 dead babies is stilll 44,000 too many dead babies.

Oh get off your high horse. Out of 40 million Japanese women of child-bearing age 44,000 is a tiny percentage, about 1 in 1000. Some of those could be rapes.

... and anyway, they're not babies, they're clusters of cells. No more murder than nicking yourself while shaving.

Stats should look at abortions lower with higher contraceptive use. If abortions are lower and contraceptive use is low or hasn't changed then something else is going on.

Did this report forget last year? I don't think many people were in the mood for sex and abortions after the tsunami and fukushima.

Government is covering costs for each additional chidren I suppose lol..

If there wasn't such a terrible stigma against birth control pills here I'm sure the number would be even lower.