Japan royal baby likely to be born early-official

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Princess Kiko, who is pregnant with a possible heir to the throne, is likely to give birth ahead of her September due date through a Caesarean operation, the Imperial Household Agency said on Tuesday.

Kiko, 39, will not immediately be hospitalized but will rest at home, an agency spokesman said, adding that the baby was developing normally.

"I think a Caesarean operation will be needed and there is a high possibility that the timing (of the birth) will be earlier than originally expected," the spokesman quoted a palace doctor as telling reporters.

Princess Kiko, the wife of Emperor Akihito's younger son, has a condition known as partial placenta previa, a complication in which the placenta becomes implanted at a location lower than normal in the uterus, the agency spokesman said.

"Together with Japan's citizens, I want to calmly await the safe birth of Princess Kiko's baby," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference.

No male has been born into Japan's imperial family since 1965, and the possibility that Kiko might bear a son has halted plans to revise a 1947 imperial succession law to give women equal rights to inherit the throne.

That would have cleared the way for 4-year-old Princess Aiko, the daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito, to become Japan's first reigning empress since the 18th century.

Current law limits the imperial succession to males who are descended from an emperor through the paternal line, but experts have said it is difficult to maintain the system given that a system of royal concubines no longer exists.

Opinion polls conducted after Princess Kiko's pregnancy was announced in February have shown a majority of the public supports letting women ascend the throne and pass it on to their children, although many also felt there was no need to rush through the legal revisions since Kiko was pregnant.

Conservatives, however, want to maintain a male imperial line they say stretches back more than 2,000 years.

Placenta previa can be treated with bed rest for the mother, but if bleeding cannot be controlled, a Caesarean delivery is usually done regardless of the length of the pregnancy, medical experts said.