Cutting-Edge Reproductive Medicine and Ethics in Japan

Abstract

National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya Although the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) endorses new-type PGD using CGH for only carriers of balanced chromosomal translocations, it is against the ethical guidelines of the JSOG to decide whether or not embryos should be implanted due to aneuploidy discovered as a result of new-type PGD. In the author's opinion, it should be at the discretion of the JSOG's own randomized controlled trials, which should involve multiple facilities, whether or not a scientific basis can be found for the value of the new-type PGD in cases of recurrent miscarriage, in cases of implantation failure, and in cases where the women are of advanced maternal age. Dr. Netsu's 36 cases of selective reduction may be against the Japanese Maternal Health Protection Law that prohibits abortion due to congenital disease, but with the backdrop that there are many abortions that are performed as a result of parental convenience in Japan, it is difficult to understand the difference between the over 300,000 abortions that are performed every year in Japan and Dr. Netsu's prescribed surgery which is designed to selectively reduce fetuses with congenital disease for the purpose of evading physical danger for women with multiple gestations.