On December 18th a ‘group home’ operated by Asunaro Social Welfare Service Corporation in Esashi, Hokkaido, admitted that it had made sterilization a condition for couples with intellectual disabilities for more than 20 years.
On December 18 the ‘group home’ operated by Asunaro Social Welfare Service Corporation in Esashi, Hokkaido, admitted that it had made sterilization a condition for mentally disabled couples for more than 20 years.
Eight couples underwent sterilization procedures in response to the operator’s suggestion.
The operator of the group home, a social welfare corporation, insists it never compelled anyone to become sterilized nor required sterilization operations as a condition for continued use of its services.
A group home in Hokkaido, northern Japan, has required residents with intellectual disabilities to undergo sterilization treatment if they want to get married or live together with a partner at the facility, its operator admitted.
In a questioning session, Tenbata pointed out that “I feel that the basis of the statement that people’s value is evaluated based on their productivity is the same as that of Satoshi Uematsu, a death-row prisoner who caused the ‘Yamayurien Incident’ (in which residents of a facility for the disabled were killed and wounded)”. Sugita said she was “very disappointed that some people have the opinion that I am the same as death row prisoner Uematsu” and added: “I will do my best to realize a society that is close to people with disabilities and enables them to live well. We are still not making enough effort”.
Tokyo High Court Presiding Judge Yutaka Hirata concluded that the eugenic protection law was unconstitutional. The plaintiff, a Tokyo resident, had demanded the government pay damages of 30 million yen.
This is the first high court ruling in suits seeking state compensation for the forced sterilization. It is also the first ruling that has recognized state responsibility for compensation over the matter. Plaintiffs had lost in all six lawsuits filed with district courts.
The Osaka High Court on Feb. 22 for the first time ordered the central government to compensate plaintiffs forcibly sterilized under a postwar eugenics policy.
Katsunori Fujii, a representative of the Japan Council on Disability held a press conference November 27th 2020 on the then proposed ‘Law on Special Provisions to the Civil Code regarding legal parent-child relationships of children born through Assisted Reproductive Technology’, saying that the law allows for the possibility of a ‘eugenic policy’ and creates a ‘sense of crisis’ for people with disabilities.
The pre-implantation screening will be carried out at about 100 certified institutions in Japan for couples who meet any of three conditions, including two or more miscarriages.
Barrier Free Japan