In May, the Sendai District Court dismissed a suit against the government filed by two women who underwent forced sterilization under the now-defunct Eugenic Protections Law because the statute of limitations had expired. However, the judges said that the law, which allowed the government to prevent people with intellectual disabilities from reproducing, was unconstitutional. As a precedent, the ruling was significant because it recognized a woman's constitutional right to self-determination regarding pregnancy and childbirth.