Women’s right to bodily autonomy: Japan needs to think again

livemint.com:

A 24-year Japanese model and four of her young compatriots, who want to undergo sterilization surgeries, recently filed a lawsuit at a Tokyo court to challenge Japan’s Maternal Protection Act of 1996, which deprives them of the opportunity to do so and thus violates their constitutional right to equality and self-determination. The petitioners’ lawyer argued that the Act smacks of “excessive paternalism" in assuming that “a woman’s body is destined to become a mother," denying them the right to “live a life of their choice." This Japanese law, a revised version of its earlier Eugenics Protection Law of 1948, has stringent pre-conditions for a woman to undergo a sterilization surgery.

It can only be performed on those who are at risk of endangering their lives due to pregnancy or delivery, or who already have several children, though spousal consent is a must. Japanese law also imposes restrictions on men seeking vasectomies, but Japan has more clinics for these than for sterilization.

Many Japanese women’s rights activists have rued that the prolonged rule of Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had held back progress on women’s reproductive rights. Observed one: “The name of the Act itself is revealing, making it clear that it intends to protect only those who want to become mothers...." According to a professor of law at the University of California, Davis, “The medical profession in Japan is still very patriarchal in its thinking… doctors operate as a cartel to maintain certain social norms." A professor of bioethics at a Japanese university has expressed doubt whether progressive reforms will get enough societal support.