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Japan gov't starts process to compensate forced sterilization victims

5 Comments

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Something that Govt should've done decades ago.

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

Not that it was ever morally acceptable at all, at any time -- but I'm particularly shocked that this practice was legal all the way up to 1996.

And it began in 1948 -- three years after the downfall of the eugenics-loving Nazi regime in Germany, at which time one would presume such horrors to be unthinkable.

Also, 1948 was right smack in the middle of the U.S. postwar occupation of Japan.

The American occupiers were apparently okay with this, and I'm flummoxed as to why.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

And it began in 1948 

I think it began in 1940. The 1948 law replaced the earlier law which was quite bad. The 1948 law wasn't totally bad. For example, it allowed voluntary abortions where the life of the woman was at risk. The bad part was that it also allowed abortion without the consent of the woman.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It was used for mentally impaired people unable to take care of themselves let alone children. Not the general population but still a moral minefield.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"If a sterilization victim or the victim's spouse has died, the compensation will go to their children, grandchildren or siblings."

Ummm... it'll go to the kids of victims who were sterilized? How many of those could there possibly be.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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