Editing Compulsory sterilization (section)

=== Japan ===
{{Further|Eugenics in Japan}}

In the first part of the reign of Emperor Hirohito, Japanese governments promoted increasing the number of healthy Japanese, while simultaneously decreasing the number of people who were afflicted with mental retardation, disability, genetic disease, and other conditions that led to inferiority in the Japanese genepool.<ref name="renamed_from_1940_on_20131210024331"/><ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=R. J. |editor1-last=Srám |editor2-first=V. |editor2-last=Bulyzhenkov |editor3-first=L. |editor3-last=Prilipko |editor4-first=Y. |editor4-last=Christen |display-editors=3 |last=Kimura |first=Rihito |title=Ethical Issues of Molecular Genetics in Psychiatry |chapter=Jurisprudence in Genetics |chapter-url=http://www.bioethics.jp/licht_genetics.html |publisher=Springer-Verlag |year=1991 |pages=157–166 |url-status=live |url=http://www.bioethics.jp/licht_genetics.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107030234/http://www.bioethics.jp/licht_genetics.html |archive-date=2015-11-07 }}</ref>

The ''Leprosy Prevention laws'' of 1907, 1931, and 1953 permitted the segregation of patients in sanitariums where forced abortions and sterilization were common, and authorized punishment of patients "disturbing peace".<ref>{{cite news |title=Hansen's sanitarium were houses of horrors |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20050128a1.html |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] |date=2005-01-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606085432/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20050128a1.html |archive-date=2011-06-06 }}, {{cite journal |first=Hajime |last=Sato |title=Abolition of leprosy isolation policy in Japan: policy termination through leadership |journal=Policy Studies Journal |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=29–46 |date=February 2002 |doi=10.1111/j.1541-0072.2002.tb02126.x}}</ref> Under the colonial Korean ''Leprosy prevention ordinance'', Korean patients were also subjected to hard labor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Korean Hansens patients seek redress |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] |date=2004-02-26 |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20040226a4.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120605020715/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20040226a4.html |archive-date=2012-06-05 }}</ref>

The "National Eugenic Law" was promulgated in 1940 by the [[Fumimaro Konoe|Konoe]] government, after rejection of the original "Race Eugenic Protection Law" in 1938.<ref name="renamed_from_1940_on_20131210024331">{{cite web |trans-title=The Eugenic Protection Law |title=国民優生法 |quote=The 107th law that Japanese Government promulgated in 1940　(国民優生法) 第二条　本法ニ於テ優生手術ト称スルハ生殖ヲ不能ナラシムル手術又ハ処置ニシテ命令ヲ以テ定ムルモノヲ謂フ |url=http://www.res.otemon.ac.jp/~yamamoto/be/BE_law_04.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140205110722/http://www.res.otemon.ac.jp/~yamamoto/be/BE_law_04.htm |archive-date=2014-02-05 }}</ref> From 1940 to 1945, sterilization was done to 454 Japanese persons under this law. Appx. 25,000 people, including 8,500 under (forced or spontaneous) consent, were surgically processed until 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nichibenren.or.jp/library/ja/opinion/report/data/2018/opinion_181220_2.pdf|title=「旧優生保護法下における優生手術及び人工妊娠中絶等に対する補償立法措置に関する意見書」, 2018, 日本弁護士連合会}}</ref>

According to the ''Eugenic Protection Law'' (1948), sterilization could be enforced upon criminals "with genetic predisposition to commit crime", patients with genetic diseases including mild ones such as total color-blindness, [[hemophilia]], [[albinism]], [[ichthyosis]], and mental affections such as schizophrenia, manic-depression possibly deemed occurrent in their opposition and epilepsy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soshiren.org/shiryou/yuseihogohou.html |title=SOSHIREN / 資料・法律−優生保護法 |publisher=Soshiren.org |access-date=2012-07-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209082910/http://www.soshiren.org/shiryou/yuseihogohou.html |archive-date=2012-02-09 }}</ref> The mental sicknesses were added in 1952.

In early 2019, Japan's supreme court upheld a requirement that transgender people must have their reproductive organs removed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/03/16/japan-says-transgender-people-must-be-sterilised|title=Japan says transgender people must be sterilised|date=2019-03-14|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2019-03-20|issn=0013-0613|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319233709/https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/03/16/japan-says-transgender-people-must-be-sterilised|archive-date=2019-03-19|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/20/national/social-issues/japan-urged-stop-requiring-transgender-people-sterilized-changing-gender-official-documents/|title=Japan urged to lift sterilization requirement for transgender recognition|date=2019-03-20|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=2019-03-20|language=en-US|issn=0447-5763|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320202743/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/20/national/social-issues/japan-urged-stop-requiring-transgender-people-sterilized-changing-gender-official-documents/|archive-date=2019-03-20|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="hrw.org">{{Cite journal |date=2019-03-19|title="A Really High Hurdle": Japan's Abusive Transgender Legal Recognition Process |website=Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/03/19/really-high-hurdle/japans-abusive-transgender-legal-recognition-process|language=en}}</ref>

In March 2019, Japan's legal policy about transgender people was:{{blockquote|In Japan, transgender people who want to legally change their gender must appeal to a family court under the GID Act, which was introduced in 2004. The procedure is discriminatory, requiring applicants to be single and without children under age 20, to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to receive a diagnosis of "gender identity disorder," and to be sterilized. The requirements rest on an outdated and pejorative notion that a transgender identity is a mental health condition, and compel transgender people to undergo lengthy, expensive, invasive, and irreversible medical procedures.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-03-19|title=Japan: Compelled Sterilization of Transgender People|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/19/japan-compelled-sterilization-transgender-people|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en}}</ref><ref name="hrw.org"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Japan's Supreme Court upholds transgender sterilization requirement|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/japan-s-supreme-court-upholds-transgender-sterilization-requirement-n962721|access-date=2022-01-04|website=NBC News|date=25 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>}}The last stipulation of the GID Act concerning forced sterilization was recently overturned in October 2023. Japan’s supreme court ruled that requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization so that they can legally change their gender identity is unconstitutional. The court stated that forcing the sterilization of the plaintiff, a transgender woman, as a requirement to change her gender on her Japanese family registry certificate was a restriction on "her freedom not to harm herself against her will".<ref name=":06">{{Cite web |last=Hida |first=Hikari |date=October 25, 2023 |title=Transgender Ruling Is Step Forward for L.G.B.T.Q. Rights in Japan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/world/asia/japan-transgender.html |access-date=April 3, 2024 |website=New York Times}}</ref> The court did not address the other requirement under the GID Act, which outlines that transgender people must undergo transition surgery in order to legally register as the gender with which they identify.<ref name=":06" />

In July 2024, the [[Supreme Court of Japan]] ruled that the Eugenic Protection Law passed in 1948 was unconstitutional, and eliminated the 20-year statute of limitations for those affected by the law.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0krnjy72j0o|title=Japan's top court says forced sterilisation unconstitutional|first=Kelly|last=Ng|date=2024-07-03|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=2024-07-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15330707#:~:text=The%20Eugenic%20Protection%20Law%20was,diseases%20could%20be%20forcibly%20sterilized.|title=Top court rules old eugenic law unconstitutional, orders redress|first=Takashi|last=Endo|date=2024-07-03|work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|access-date=2024-07-03}}</ref>