Women's rights? The politics of eugenic abortion in modern Japan

343 Pages·2017·1.82 MB·English

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Women's rights? The politics of eugenic abortion in
modern Japan
Kato , Masae
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Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation:
Kato , M. (2009). Women's rights? The politics of eugenic abortion in modern Japan. (IIAS Publications Series :
monographs, 2). Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Press. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-271913
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Women’s Rights?
Publications Series
SeriesEditors
MaxSparreboomandPaulvanderVelde
EditorialBoard
Prasenjit Duara (University of Chicago) / Carol Gluck (Columbia University) /
Christophe Jaffrelot (Centre d’E´tudes et de Recherches Internationales-Sciences-
po) / Victor T. King (University of Hull) / Yuri Sadoi (Meijo University) / A.B.
Shamsul (Institute of Occidental Studies / Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) /
HenkSchulteNordholt(RoyalNetherlands InstituteofSoutheastAsianandCar-
ibbeanStudies)/WimBoot(LeidenUniversity)
The IIAS Publications Series consists of Monographs and Edited Volumes. The
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Women’s Rights?
The Politics of Eugenic Abortion
in Modern Japan
Masae Kato
Publications Series
Monographs 2
Cover illustration:Eva Gjaltema
Cover design:Maedium, Utrecht
Layout: The DocWorkers, Almere
ISBN 978 90 5356 793 7
e-ISBN 978 90 4850143 4
NUR 741 /745
© IIAS /Amsterdam University Press, 2009
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright re-
served above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or in-
troduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)
without the written permission of both the copyright owners and the
authorof the book.
To my Sensei
To my Parents
To my Sisters

Contents
Acknowledgments 11
Introduction 13
Problems ofrights: Theissue ofrights in an international
context 15
The aims ofthisbook with regard to the concept of‘rights’ 20
Relatedresearch 22
On target groups:Socialmovement organisations ofwomen,
disabledpeople, and anti-abortion activists 28
On the structure 32
1 Historical Background 35
Laws onabortion betweenthe Meiji periodand the end of
the SecondWorld War 35
The Iehousehold systemand women’s position during the
Meiji period 36
Towards the growing militarism of the 1930s 38
After the SecondWorld War 42
2 AbortionDebates in the1970s 59
The attempt to revise the EugenicProtection Law: The draft
proposaland those behind it 59
Reactionof women to the proposed revisions to the Eugenic
Protection Law 65
The encounter between the movements of women and
disabledpeople 66
Disabledpeople’s arguments against the proposal 68
Insearch of movement rhetoric 70
Philosophicalcontribution of the Women’s Liberation
Movement 77
Debateinsidethe Women’s LiberationMovement about
the concept ofan individual political ‘right’ 78
8 CONTENTS
3 On women’sselfishness and the right to abortion 85
Genealogy of the concept ofrights 85
Politicalphilosophy in Japan before the conceptof‘rights’
was introduced 96
A rights analysis of the Japanese abortion debate during
the 1970s 106
Towards the 1980s:The 1975 UN Women’s Conference
and the solidarity of Japanese women 114
4 AbortionDebates in the1980s 117
The 1982 attemptto repealthe economicreasons clause
and the anti-abortion argument 117
The reaction of the disabled people’s movement 131
Rights in the 1980s 138
5 Analysisof theDiscourse onthe ConceptofIndividual,
Political Rights in the 1980s 141
On the frequent useof the term ‘right’in the 1980s 142
On adebateabout the Mizukobusinessand the usage
of the term ‘right’ in Japan 155
The 1980s in comparison with the 1970s 158
Fromthe 1980sinto the 1990s 159
6 The Debate on the Notion ofIndividual, Political Rights
after theRepealof the Eugenic Protection Law 167
The main problem after the EugenicProtection Law:
Reproductive technologies 167
Individual doctors and their perspectives onwomen’s right
to self-determination 175
Reproductive technologies use women’s bodies 187
What can be learnedfrom these debates? 192
7 Liberated Individuals? 195
The meaning ofthe ‘self’ with ‘women’s rightto
self-determination’ 195
Liberalism 198
On the meaning of ‘women’s right to self-determination’
as used by the women’s movement 201
‘Who isthe self’ in women’s right to self-determination 215
CONTENTS 9
Conclusion Summary of the Analysis andthe Future of
the Concept of‘Rights’ 219
1970s: ‘Women’s rightto abortion’ is women’s egoism 219
The 1980s: International arguments, new rhetoric,and
anew phase in movements’ activities 231
The possibility ofenriching the concept of‘rights’ 235
Appendix 1 Crimes of abortion (Chapter 29 ofthe
Japanese PenalCode) 241
Appendix 2 The Eugenic Protection Law 243
Appendix 3 The Law to Protectthe Mother’sBody 257
Appendix 4 Ademand letter from Osaka Aoi shiba nokai
to the Hyôgo Prefecture 261
Appendix 5 A leaflet written and distributed by
TANAKA Mitsu, on behalf ofthe Women’s
Liberation Movement (Tokyo,1973) 263
Notes 269
Bibliography 313
Index 337