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Paper short abstract

This paper analyses how coalition building between disability rights and reproductive justice advocates exposed gaps between eugenic policy and forced hysterectomies in 1990s Japan, demonstrating how grassroots activism challenged state sanctioned violence against disabled women's bodies.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines how grassroots advocacy groups challenged the gap between eugenic policy and discriminatory practice in postwar Japan, focusing on forced hysterectomies of institutionalised disabled women under the Eugenic Protection Law (1948). Whilst the law ostensibly regulated reproduction through medical frameworks, its implementation enabled systematic violence against disabled women's bodies, revealing how state sanctioned eugenic ideology operated through institutional practices.

Centring on coalition building between the groups such as the DPI Josei Shōgaisha Nettowāku (DPI Women's Network Japan) and reproductive justice advocates such as SOSHIREN, the analysis demonstrates how collaborative activism exposed continuities between official eugenic policy and coercive practices. These coalition partners documented how the law's formal provisions translated into forced hysterectomies within institutions, revealing mechanisms through which legislative frameworks authorised medical control over disabled women's bodies.

The paper traces how intersectional coalition networks transformed documentation of forced procedures into collective testimonies that challenged both the law's eugenic rationale and the medical practices it legitimised. Through strategic alliance building across disability rights and feminist movements, activists confronted the historical marginalisation of disabled women within both spheres. By converting individual experiences into broader social movements, these coalitions generated public awareness and political pressure that exposed institutional violence. Coalition partners strategically leveraged international human rights frameworks, particularly the 1994 UN Cairo Conference, to pressure the dismantling of overtly eugenic policies, demonstrating how grassroots activism drove efforts to start untangling eugenic legacies in postwar Japan and align national policies with international standards on reproductive autonomy and disability rights.

The paper contributes to understanding postwar Japan's eugenic regulation by demonstrating how intersectional resistance and coalition building exposed the distance between policy and practice that enabled sustained violence against disabled women's bodies. The case of forced hysterectomies exemplifies how collaborative activism across movements challenged eugenic violence whilst revealing the limitations of legislative reform in transforming institutional practices and eradicating entrenched systems of bodily control.