Japanese Minister Calls Women ‘Baby-Making Machines'

The approval ratings of Prime Minister Abe of Japan may take another hit after his health minister described women as "baby-making machines."

In Parliament yesterday, Mr. Abe said the remarks made by Hakuo Yanagisawa were "inappropriate."

The reprimand came the same day that two newspaper polls showed the prime minister's popularity dropping over doubts about his leadership.

In a speech discussing Japan's falling birthrate, Mr. Yanagisawa on January 27 said, "The number of machines that produce babies is fixed, so each woman has to have more babies," according to the Asahi newspaper.