This post is not mean to deface any country or a specific doctor. Just a personal experience to share with other women who face similar conundrums with abortion in Japan, hopefully to offer some insights on what to do to aide with a peaceful transition. Commenters plz don’t take it personally. Simply close the post if it makes you uncomfortable.
It took two weeks for me to finally decide that I do not want this kid. I was mentally prepared for a worst case scenario: being a single mom, but then a closure with the man made me realize that I don’t want to spend ten months in limbo with nausea, for carrying on his genes. So I quickly ordered the pill set from the NGO Women On Web at 7wk. Was told that it takes 1-2 weeks to reach japan from India, a country that enjoyed a lot of freedoms when it comes to hormonal abortion and cheap manufacturing & logistics.
It arrived exactly at a week, and the lady told me it stays effective even one year after the expiry date. This is very helpful because while waiting for it to arrive, the nausea got really bad and I ended up going to a local clinic in Kansai that had the pill. You can find a list of clinics that Nordic Pharma delegates the pill to on their Japan website. I was charged with 135,000yen at the clinic, covering the pill, a pre-check up(intrauterine ultrasound), and blood test.
They made me sign a paper that says I have to go through a surgical operation a week later if residue tissue is found, and it’d be at my own extra expense.
Overall the Japan experience was very negative, with a lot of outdated red tapes. On the first visit they insisted on not giving me the first dose of mifepristone and asked me to come back the second day. When I pressed “why”, they asked me, “well, did you bring enough money? it’s very expensive.” And “you need consent from your partner”. When I explained that I’m single and not married, the male gynecologist said “well, the baby’s father then”, to which I replied “not available”, and he didn’t understand, so I said 「死んだ」 (dead). And I could tell the two of them were dumbfounded.
It’s not that I abhor my ex that much that I wish he was dead, but they he’s merely nonexistent when it comes to important decision-making or relieving my suffering. And if “he’s dead” could save me from all this Japanese red tape, bravo!
Then I was ordered to come back to the clinic in 36h to take the misoprostol, as required by the Japanese laws (you can’t take it by yourself at home, even though it’s straightforward and the doctor didn’t have anything else valuable to contribute).
After I put them between my gums, the nurse told me to go outside on the waiting chair, without saying anything else. I waited for 10 min for my name to be called again; but nothing. I still had to commute by bus for 30min to get home, and the worst pain happens then; you don’t want to toss and turn agonizingly in a public bus. I thought these Japanese doctors understood how the pill works and that it’s important for the patient to get comfortable, but NA. So I quickly left the clinic and jumped on the bus home.
I was lucky, because 10min after I reached home, I threw up and excruciating pain began. This is when I got a call from the clinic, asking me where I was. When I told them I came home, they ordered me to go back, “we need to check on you; it’s the doctor’s order”, the nurse said.
I said no, I can’t and hung up, blocked their number, to embrace my upcoming ordeal.
I understood that everyone is just doing their job, following the showa Japanese way, but unfortunately, I place my wellbeing above honoring the stupid system.
The pain was hellish, I twisted and turned with chills and nausea for 15min. Then the painkiller Caronol took effect and I fell asleep from the exhaustion. when I woke up again, the sac was discharged and all the nausea was gone. I was able to eat with really good appetite again.
And as you can imagine, I didn’t go for the checkup the following week. For one thing, one week is too short for the residue to be completely gone (the clinic clearly had no experience with this, or they really wanna operate on me surgically). In fact, many women still bleed after 2 wk. Second, they were rude and lacks basic knowledge with hormonal abortion.
But I’m happy that I got what I wanted. And it made me see the value of money. It’s at moments like this that money really made a difference. $1k saving me a lot of ordeal, or else I had to wait a week for the pack to arrive from India, or worse, deciding to keep the baby.
The whole thing was expensive, and not at all covered by the Japanese health insurance. Yet I’m willing to pay for it; it is my own mistake and responsibility anyway. I just couldn’t help but wonder what if the girl has no money.
The Japanese medical system clearly encourages births than abortion, eg. free 10+ hospital visits till birth, free money for new mom, paid leave etc. Abortion? Well plz prepare $1000. And the truth is. Mifepristone is far from expensive to manufacture; they intentionally jacked up the price to make abortion inaccessible. And the result? Young women, many of those <20, still in high school, chose to give births instead.
Being a public health researcher myself, this is a classic case of medical discrimination. And it gave me a new perspective on Japan.
Therefore, Kudos to WomenOnWeb, where you can order the pack for as little as $100 or none. I think every fertile woman should have it at home as an emergency drug. Do not wait till the last moment to order. The earlier you take the drug, the more effective and less pain/blood.
All in all, always use condom. Don’t get carried away by the moment.
by Puzzled_Internal9756