Legislation has been enacted in the Diet to offer ¥3.2 million in lump sum payments to each person subjected to sterilization surgery — many without their consent — on the grounds of intellectual and physical disabilities as well as hereditary diseases under the now-defunct Eugenic Protection Law. The payments are expected to start as early as June, finally providing relief to victims of sterilization under the law, which was in place from 1948 to 1996 to perform such surgery in order to prevent the births of "eugenically inferior" children. However, the enactment of the relief legislation — which comes 23 years after the law was changed to remove the discriminatory provision for forced sterilization of people with disabilities — will not put an end to the issue for the estimated 21,000 people who had their right to have children violated under the government policy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe released a statement that the government "sincerely reflects on and apologizes" for the victims' suffering. But victims who are suing the government for damages and their supporters say they are not content with the legislation because it blurs the government's responsibility for the policy that promoted the sterilization surgeries on people with disabilities, and that they will continue their legal battle. What is crucial in avoiding a repeat of the same kind of policy mistakes will be the effort to identify how and why such a policy was instituted and maintained for decades, and highlight the responsibility of each of the parties involved.
The Eugenic Protection Law was introduced with unanimous support of the Diet amid moves to restrict childbirth at a time of severe food shortages after Japan's defeat in World War II. Of the roughly 21,000 people subjected to sterilization under the law, at least 16,500 are believed to have undergone the surgery without their consent. The old Health and Welfare Ministry reportedly sent notices to local governments stating that people with disabilities could even be deceived into receiving the sterilization surgeries. The policy under the 1948 law was kept intact until it was amended in 1996, even though by the 1980s questions were being raised within the government about the discriminatory nature of the policy.