Abstract
Japanese bioethics began in the early 1970s by feminists who fought against the government's bill that seeked to limit the freedom of abortion. This means that Japanese bioethics started as feminist bioethics, simultaneous with the formation of American bioethics. Their discourses are classified under three categories : (1) The government should not intervene into private reproductive processes, (2) Women have reproductive rights including abortion, and (3) Society in which women can and want to give birth confidently is needed. We have ignored their bioethical discussions and movements in the 70s and 80s, Their works should be reappraised as Japanese feminist bioethics, and the first attempt of contemporary Japanese bioethics.
