Disabled Resident of Hokkaido Care Facility “felt coerced” into being Sterilized

From The Tokyo Shimbun

June 21 2023

HOKKAIDO  – On June 21, an interview with the Hokkaido prefectural government revealed that a person with a mental disability who wished to get married or live together at a group home run by Asunaro Fukushikai, a social welfare corporation in Esashi, Hokkaido (Hidetoshi Higuchi, president), stated that he “felt as if he was forced to do so” when asked by the prefectural government about the sterilization procedures being performed on him.

According to the person in charge of the investigation, the person who testified that he felt coerced was a disabled person who had undergone the procedure before 2006. The fact that he decided to undergo the treatment after prolonged contact with the facility staff and that the facility explained to him that he had no choice but to undergo the treatment was not confirmed, and the Hokkaido government determined that he ultimately made the decision of his own volition.

The inadequacy of the records and the uncertainty of the person’s testimony highlighted the difficulty of such investigations.