An LGBT advocacy group urged the Japanese government on Tuesday to ensure that all pregnant women have access to the same level of medical support after a woman in a same-sex relationship who became pregnant through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was denied treatment at a hospital.
In the request presented to the Children and Families Agency, the Tokyo-based organization Kodomap also highlighted another case in which a hospital refused to give a checkup to an unmarried woman who got pregnant through IVF and planned to raise the child on her own.
Both cases took place during a time when Japanese hospitals have grown wary about accepting pregnant women unconditionally due to a lack of legislation related to conception via donated sperm.