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.
The Japanese government Monday 7th March appealed to the Supreme Court to challenge a high court verdict ordering damages payments to victims of forced sterilization performed under the now-defunct eugenic protection law.
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.
The first oral argument in a lawsuit in which hearing-impaired people in Kansai sought compensation for damages from the government was held at the Osaka High Court on the 30th, alleging that they were forced to undergo fertility surgery under the former Eugenic Protection Law.
A Japanese court on Tuesday ruled as unconstitutional the now-defunct eugenics protection law that authorized the government to stop people with disabilities from having children, but rejected a claim for damages sought by five people.
However, the ruling said, “The possibility that she had the abortion due to economic reasons cannot be ruled out,” and stated it cannot be recognized that she was forced to have the surgery in accordance with the law. With regard to forced sterilization, the court said, “There is not enough evidence, such as a doctor’s opinion and photographs of surgery scars, to recognize that she underwent the surgery.”
Along with the Sendai and Osaka courts, the Sapporo district court also rejected the plaintiffs’ demand for compensation, citing the statute of limitations that expired 20 years after the surgery.
In a lawsuit filed against the Japanese government by a married couple and a woman who were sterilized under the now-defunct eugenics protection law (1948-1996), the judge ruled the law unconstitutional but dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims for a total of 5.5 million yen (approx. $53,000) in damages on Nov 30th
The problem is that the text of the bill requires consideration for children born via assisted reproductive technology to be born in good physical and mental health. It advocates “preventing the birth of bad offspring” and states that there is a problem that leads to the old eugenic protection law that forced people with disabilities to undergo sterilization.
Barrier Free Japan