Japan needs better contraception access, Planned Parenthood head says

TOKYO -- Japan must improve access to contraception and abortion to boost economic productivity and tackle its aging population, the head of the world's largest NGO for sexual and reproductive health and rights told Nikkei Asia.

"Women need to be able to have children by choice, not by chance, if [Japan] wants more women in the productive labor force," Alvaro Bermejo, director-general of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), said in a recent interview in Tokyo.