A health ministry panel on Friday approved the manufacturing and marketing of an oral abortion pill in Japan for the first time, paving the way for its formal approval and sale as early as this spring. As abortions in the early stages of pregnancies in Japan are currently limited to surgical procedures, the pill "Mefeego," developed by the British pharmaceutical company Linepharma International Ltd. There were 126,174 abortion cases in Japan in fiscal 2021, the ministry said