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The victims and their families fought for years to get compensation for the damage they suffered.
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Junko Iizuka is still suffering from the effects of the mysterious operation she underwent more than 60 years ago.
She was only 16 when she was taken to a clinic in northeastern Japan for the procedure that later left her irreversibly infertile.
However, this was not an unintended consequence of the necessary surgery. NO.
The impossibility of having children was the main objective of this surgical procedure, carried out as part of the eugenics policy in force in Japan between 1948 and 1996, with the aim of “preventing the birth of inferior offspring … and protecting life”. health of the mother.
An estimated 16,500 people mostly women were operated on without their consent, about 8,000 gave their consent albeit presumably under pressure and another 60,000 women had abortions to avoid hereditary diseases, according to a 1,400page parliamentary report presented recently.
The report, which is the result of an investigation launched in 2020, sparked widespread outrage when it revealed at least one girl and one nineyearold boy had undergone the procedures.
The text has also been criticized for leaving important questions unanswered about the policy, which many say Japan has been slow to move away from.
A law for the “protection” of young people
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Junko Lisuka (on the back of the picture) was sterilized at the age of 16 without her knowledge or consent
The Eugenics Protection Act was passed in 1948, allowing doctors to sterilize people with or without their consent.
In the latter case, if the physician believes the procedure is necessary “to protect the public interest to prevent hereditary transmission of disease,” the physician should seek a referral from the local community to assess whether the procedure is appropriate .
So, in theory, a case review mechanism was created that allowed the patient to raise objections and even initiate a judgment to avoid surgery.
However, in an article published in 1997, Takashi Tsuchiya, a professor at Osaka City University, warns, “These reporting, screening, and requirement provisions do not apply to patients with mental or intellectual disabilities.”
In addition, some guidelines approved by the Ministry of Health in 1953 stipulated that this type of surgery could be performed “against the patient’s will” if the commission deemed it necessary, and authorized the performance of the procedure by “subjecting the patient’s body to him giving him a painkiller or tricking him.”
“These new regulations in the early 1950s permitted and sanctioned forced and sham sterilization as was commonly practiced,” notes Tsuchiya.
For example, according to the parliamentary report, some patients were told they were going to undergo routine procedures such as appendectomy, when in fact they were being sterilized.
The law included a list of diseases that were then considered hereditary and made the patient a candidate for sterilization, such as schizophrenia, manicdepressive psychosis, “markedly abnormal sexual desire”, “pronounced criminal propensity”, albinism, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, deafness, Hemophilia, color blindness, “broken hand” and “broken foot” among others.
As Tsuchiya points out, this legislation reflected not only the Japanese government’s concerns about overpopulation, but also about the “deterioration” of offspring.
ruined lives
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In 2019, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized on behalf of the state for the sterilization policy.
The Japanese government apologized for this policy in 2019 and announced that it would pay each bereaved approximately US$28,600 (about R$140,000) in compensation.
ThenPrime Minister Shinzo Abe said in his official apology that the eugenics law caused “great suffering” to its victims.
For Junko Lizuka, who fought for justice for years and now wears glasses and a mask to avoid public attention, the consequences went far beyond that.
“Eugenic surgeries have robbed me of all my humble dreams of a happy marriage and children,” Iizuka told reporters.
She explained that her husband left her and filed for divorce immediately after she told him that she had sterilization surgery and could not have children.
“I had mental problems and couldn’t work. I was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Eugenic surgery turned my life upside down,” she said.
According to Tsuchiya, many of the forced sterilizations were performed on patients in psychiatric hospitals and other centers for people with intellectual disabilities, who were often tricked into undergoing the surgery.
“Sometimes these people were asked (if they wanted to have the procedure), but they were practically forced to give their consent because sterilization was often a requirement for admission to these facilities, which is what these people’s parents wanted,” says he.
Since the aim of these operations was not only to prevent these people from giving birth, but also to interrupt menstruation in women, in order to facilitate the care of these people in health centers, these sterilizations were often not performed by ligating the fallopian tubes, but by a complete hysterectomy.
“To stop menstruation, either the ovaries or the uterus must be surgically removed, but since the loss of the ovaries involved ‘loss of femininity’, doctors preferred to remove the uterus ‘for the patient’s sake’ . This procedure was illegal because the law only allowed sterilization “without removing the reproductive organs,” Tsuchiya explains.
search for justice
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The sterilization law was reformed in 1996, but victims continue to demand justice.
For decades, victims have fought for recognition of the damage they suffered and for compensation.
In some cases they went directly to court, with mixed results.
Last year, a high court in Osaka ordered the Japanese government to pay three victims $200,000.
Earlier this month, however, another court overturned that ruling, arguing that the legal basis had expired after more than 20 years.
Junko Lizuka, one of those responsible for the lawsuit against the government, called the decision “terrible” because it failed to consider the reasons why victims could not sue earlier.
Speaking to the press, he explained that he would like a quicker solution, offering more appropriate compensation without the need for a court case, as “the government’s responsibility is evident”.
However, even the most recent parliamentary report does not appear to provide the justice expected of the victims.
Koji Niisato, a lawyer who has represented victims of the policy, denied the report didn’t go far enough.
He emphasized that it is essentially an overview of what has already been studied and reported on the subject.
“There is no summary of why this terrible law was created and lasted for 48 years, and no mention of why the government has not taken responsibility even after the law was changed. It’s extremely unfortunate,” Nisato told reporters this week.
For some victims, like Saburo Kita, who was forcibly sterilized at the age of 14, the report shows that the government misled children.
She is now 80 years old and expresses her wish that the matter be resolved as soon as possible.
“I want the state not to hide the problem in the dark, but to take our need seriously soon,” he said.
The wait goes on for now.