2 Japanese Sue Govt over Forced Sterilization

June 28, 2018

Sapporo/Kumamoto- Two Japanese people sued the central government on Thursday for damages over sterilization operations conducted on them without their consent under the now-defunct 1948 eugenic protection law.

A 75-year-old woman in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and a 73-year-old man in the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto, filed their lawsuits with Sapporo District Court in Hokkaido and Kumamoto District Court, respectively.

The Japanese government has already been sued over forced sterilization by four others, including a woman in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and a man in Tokyo.

According to her attorneys, the Hokkaido woman is intellectually disabled. After getting married, she became pregnant in 1981. But she got an abortion and underwent a sterilization operation at a hospital as her husband signed a letter of consent after being persuaded to do so by relatives.

No record of her operations has been found at the Hokkaido government or the hospital.

The woman is seeking damages also for the forced abortion, the first such claim made in lawsuits filed over the legislation.

"I wanted to have and raise a child with my husband," the woman said. "I'm still sad and frustrated."

Her 81-year-old husband joined the suit, insisting that his right to make a family was infringed on. He is the first person to become a plaintiff of a forced sterilization-related lawsuit besides the ones who underwent the operations themselves. The couple is seeking damages totaling 22 million yen.

The man in Kumamoto, Kazumi Watanabe, underwent an operation for sterilization at a hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture when he was 10 or 11 as he was suffering from osteoarthritis, a type of joint disease. He received no explanation from the doctor at the time.

"I want to fight back against the state," Watanabe said. "I want a word of apology." He is seeking payment of 33 million yen in damages.

The law in question allowed sterilization operations to be conducted on people with hereditary diseases or psychological disorders, as well as leprosy sufferers. In 1996, it was revamped into the maternal health law, with eugenics-based discriminatory provisions removed.

The plaintiffs claim that the forced sterilization breached their right to self-determination about whether to have children and inflicted emotional distress on them. In the upcoming trials, they plan to argue that the government has neglected to take legislative action for implementing relief measures.

According to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, sterilization operations were performed on about 16,500 people across Japan without their consent under the eugenic law. Jiji Press