LO
ConstraintPhysical automation2026-05-21
Japanese law reserves assisting at birth and health guidance for women after birth and newborns to licensed midwives or doctors, on pain of criminal penalty
Midwifeoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2026-05-21
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
Attending births and emergencies
Supporting the woman through birth, delivering the baby, handling bleeding, resuscitating newborns and calling for help.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Postnatal and newborn care
Checking mothers and babies after birth, supporting feeding, spotting problems and keeping records.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
Japan. The act defines a midwife as a woman licensed by the health minister to assist at birth or give health guidance to pregnant women, women after childbirth or newborns, says no one who is not a midwife may do this work except a doctor acting under the Medical Practitioners Act, and punishes violations with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. Promulgated in 1948; read in the version in force from 21 May 2026. It reserves the work to licensed people; it does not ban tools used by them.
What this means
In Japan, managing a birth and caring for mother and baby after it are, by law, a licensed person's work.
What it does not yet show
It reserves the work to people but says nothing about the tools they may use.
What you can check
Open the Act on Public Health Nurses, Midwives and Nurses on e-Gov and find "助産師でない者は、第三条に規定する業をしてはならない".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 2 linked task judgements above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
e-Gov Japanese Law Search (Digital Agency) — Act on Public Health Nurses, Midwives and Nurses (保健師助産師看護師法, Act No. 203 of 1948), Articles 3, 30 and 43, version in force from 21 May 2026 · verified 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.