The overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the United States feels like the death knell for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights for Americans. The ruling’s become a talking point the world over, including Japan, where access to abortion comes with its own caveats.
SHELLY, a prominent Japanese-American tarento, shared her objections to the ruling on her social media. [1] When sharing her dismay over the ruling and the end to safe abortions, she used the phrase “people with a uterus” (子宮を持つ人; shikyuu wo motsu hito). [2] This one particular phrase unleashed a torrent of backlash as Twitter users dogpiled on SHELLY for supposedly discriminating against women.
Insulting or Inclusive?
People mainly took issue with SHELLY not using “women” (女性; josei) when discussing abortion. Many users believed SHELLY was insulting women by reducing them to a reproductive organ, effectively dehumanizing them. [3][4] To be fair, it is problematic to reduce a person to a reproductive organ, regardless of their gender identity.
However, that wasn’t SHELLY’s intent, and the majority of the outrage from people smacked of anti-trans sentiments. Noticing the conversation around her choice of words, SHELLY clarified her intent in using that expression. “Women aren’t the only ones who can get pregnant after being raped. I used the phrase ‘person with a uterus’ because this issue isn’t just about women,” she tweeted. [5]
Of course, she’s right. Anti-abortion laws don’t just affect cisgender heterosexual women, but transgender men, nonbinary people, intersex people, and other sexual minorities. Yet they are all too often left out of the conversation, making SHELLY’s use of inclusive language, if not perfect, even more meaningful. Some users tweeted how reassuring it was to see someone well-known like SHELLY acknowledge how abortion isn’t just for women. [6][7]
The State of Abortion in Japan
SHELLY also stressed that she wanted people to “seriously consider how something like this could happen in Japan as well” [1]. She has a right to be alarmed. Japan’s history of anti-abortion legislation goes as far back as the Edo period, when Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu outlawed abortion, child abandonment, and infanticide in an attempt to boost population growth. Post-WWII legislation limited birth control and abortion further, and oral contraceptives only became legal in 1999.
When it comes to birth control, barriers like high cost and restrictions on access to morning-after pills deter many people from seeking contraception. Talk of finally introducing an abortion pill led to outrage when the head of Japan’s OB/GYN association recommended making the pill incredibly expensive to prevent women from easy access to abortion.
These comments also go to show how views on abortion are still overwhelmingly cisgender. Where the government has failed to institute comprehensive sex education, others have filled in the gap, including YouTubers. SHELLY herself has made sex education fun and accessible through her YouTube channel SHELLYのお風呂場 (Shelly’s Bathroom). [8]
SHELLY is right to worry that Japan could attempt to enact similar anti-abortion legislation, just as she was right to include sexual minorities in the abortion discourse. It’s always better not to whittle people down to their reproductive organs, but SHELLY still made an effort to acknowledge and include them. That’s more than many can say about other prominent public figures.
Sources
[1] SHELLYさん「沢山の死をもたらす」中絶の権利覆すアメリカ最高裁の判断に異議. HuffPost Japan.
[3] Tweet by @mimic01021.
[4] Tweet by @GatlingMk2.
[6] Tweet by @shigechiko.
[7] Tweet by @gupaooooon.
[8] SHELLYのお風呂場. YouTube.
