An intellectually disabled woman in her 60s plans to sue the government for forcibly rendering her sterile as a teenager under a law aimed at “preventing the birth of inferior offspring.”
The lawsuit, which will be filed as early as in January, would be the first in Japan to challenge the constitutionality of enforcing sterilization operations under the Eugenic Protection Law of 1948, according to her lawyers.
The woman, who lives in Miyagi Prefecture, will demand a state apology and compensation, contending that the eugenic sterilization operation, performed without her consent, violated her constitutional right to pursue happiness.
“(What she experienced) was nothing but inhumanity and a disregard for human rights,” the woman’s sister-in-law said at a symposium in Tokyo on Dec. 3. “Somebody should speak up to redress such suffering because the victims are getting older.”
Under the Eugenic Protection Law, authorities were allowed to compel people with certain conditions, such as mental disorders, hereditary diseases or Hansen’s disease, to have abortions or undergo sterilization procedures.