In addition to the controversial ¥2 trillion cash handout, the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 passed by the Diet includes a budgetary measure, in force for two years, designed to enable pregnant women to undergo 14 checkups before delivery free of charge. (Fourteen checkups are thought to be necessary to ensure safe birth.) But the description "free" appears to be misleading.
Previously a budgetary measure covered just five checkups, posing quite a financial burden on some women. As a result some women have had to give birth without having had any checkups. It is risky for women near delivery not to be examined, yet this is the situation that obstetric clinics sometimes have had to face.
Under the new budgetary measure, local governments are expected to cover about 70 percent of the cost of the 14 checkups — estimated to total about ¥118,000 — mainly by using grant-in-aid from central government tax money. In turn, the central government will provide subsidies depending on the amount paid by the local governments.