More people in Japan are undergoing premarital medical examinations as more couples struggle with infertility due to late marriages.

While many people view such checkups positively, as a way to detect health problems at an early stage, some experts are concerned that reproductive capacity could be used as criteria for selecting marriage partners — eventually leading to a situation akin to eugenics. The types of premarital checkups vary depending on institutions, but packaged services often include blood tests, checks for sexually transmitted diseases, rubella antibody tests and uterine cancer or semen tests. The fees are not covered by national health insurance.

According to Recruit Marketing Partners Co., 59 percent of 187 women surveyed in 2011 were aware of premarital health checkups, and 24 percent actually underwent them. Many cited concerns about their health as reasons for having the examinations. One respondent said the result of a checkup showing no abnormalities provided a sense of relief, while another said the test led to the early discovery of a disease.