A draft report on the nation's former eugenics law, under which about 25,000 people with disabilities and certain diseases were sterilized, many of them forcibly, highlights the inappropriate manner in which the policy was enforced.

Diet investigators, who researched the background of the 1948 enactment of the Eugenic Protection Law and the extent of the damage, submitted the draft to the chairs of the welfare committees of the Diet's two chambers on June 12.

“As a member of the Diet, I want to sincerely reflect on (what the legislature did) and apologize from the bottom of my heart,” said Hiromi Mitsubayashi, chairman of the Lower House Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare.

The report will not be made public until the welfare committee chairs submit it to the Lower House speaker and the Upper House president as early as next week.

In advance, a seven-page summary was distributed to media representatives.

The investigation, conducted primarily by staff members at the Lower and Upper chambers, is believed to be the first large-scale survey on the law, which was abolished in 1996.

The report consists of three chapters, each discussing the law-making process; how operations were carried out; and sterilization policies in other countries.

According to the summary, the draft, which runs about 1,400 pages, shows that sterilization operations were carried out as a national policy involving private-sector parties under the Eugenic Protection Law.

The first chapter describes the process in which the concept of eugenics was built into a national policy, including the establishment of the eugenics division in the former welfare ministry in 1938.

“There were no indications that (the eugenics law) was discussed from a critical perspective” when the law was enacted to “prevent births of inferior offspring,” it said.

The second chapter reported that sterilization operations were performed on 24,993 people, about 75 percent of whom were women. The largest number was recorded in 1955.

The former welfare ministry notified concerned parties in 1949 that they were allowed to physically restrain people with disabilities or diseases or even deceive them so that they would submit to an operation.

The report said there were cases in which sterilization operations were “disguised as other types of surgeries,” citing surveys of medical institutions and welfare facilities.

Some municipalities encouraged operations by subsidizing expenses.

The report said the reasons cited for carrying out operations included fears that people with disabilities or diseases may become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse and concerns that they may have difficulties raising their child.

The eugenics law approved sterilization primarily by binding fallopian tubes or deferent ducts.

In reality, however, unauthorized methods were also used, such as removal of uteruses or testicles and irradiation.

Approval by a prefectural examination committee was required if operations were to be performed without the consent of people with disabilities or diseases.

But the report said there were cases in which such committees held sessions without the required number of members in attendance or planned operations were examined only on paper.

“It is significant that a Diet investigation confirmed that forced sterilization operations were carried out in a lax manner,” said Yoko Matsubara, a professor of bioethics at Ritsumeikan University.

She referred to examples included in the report, such as performing operations other than those approved under the law and filing pre-surgery applications for operations after surgeries were completed.

The latest investigation was stipulated in a law enacted in April 2019 for providing 3.2 million yen ($22,940) each in lump-sum payments to victims of forced sterilizations.

Staff members at the two Diet chambers and others conducted the survey covering organizations of people with disabilities, medical societies and researchers, with cooperation from the National Diet Library.

Thirty-eight victims of forced sterilizations filed lawsuits against the government at 12 district courts and branches.

Seven rulings ordered the government to pay compensation, but they have not been finalized as the government filed appeals.

Koji Niisato, who co-heads the defense counsel for related lawsuits nationwide, told a news conference in Tokyo on June 12 that the investigators should have conducted the survey not only through documents and other materials but by listening to the voices of victims.

Naoto Sekiya, the lead attorney for the lawsuits filed in Tokyo, called on the government to utilize the survey’s findings to provide adequate relief to victims.