"Right-To-Life" Groups in Japan

"Ever since 1965, the fundamentalist right-to-life group, Seicho No Ie (House of Growth) has beeen active. Their bills before the Diet in 1972 and 1973 were rejected, but ten years later in the spring of 1982, the group once again made headlines. Their champion, Masakuni Murakami, headed a group of 104 ruling party members also in favor of revising the law. Agitation reached a head by March 1983. By then, women's groups as disparate as houswives and feminists had banded together to form a resistance. Gynecolgoists, doctors, family planners, and female politicians opposed any change as well" (Condon).

Japanese women, who are not known for their activism, joined organizers in Yoyogi Park and staged a protest; 1,500 women showed up. Five women held a hunger strike and Japenese women were driven to act effectively, over the issue of abortion. (Condon).

"Due to intensity and diversity of feelings, by the end of March 1983, the Ministry of health and Welfare gave up iits plan to submit to the Diet a bill to revise the current law. The ruling party itself was sharply divided. They could only agree to further study by a special research party" (Condon).

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