Japanese American Women Coercively Sterilized
by problematicserenity on November 25/07

There are reports indicating that Japanese American women were coercively sterilized during their internment in camps during World War II.

In March 1945 Representative Jed Johnson (D-Okla.) proposed that Congress undertake specific legislation for the long-term disposition of the Japanese-Americans in relocation camps - suggesting “we should make an appropriation to sterilize the whole outfit.”(Ordover 2003:160)

Alice Tanabe Nehira’s 1981 testimony during hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians indicated that her mother, who was rounded up along with over 110,000 Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066, was sterilized without her knowledge while interned at Tule Lake in 1943. (Ordover 2003: 161)

References

Ordover, Nancy. 2003. American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Tule Internment Camp

Tule Lake, in northern California, was one of the most infamous of the internment camps. Prisoners there held frequent demonstrations and strikes, demanding their rights under the U.S. Constitution. As a result, it was made a "segregation camp," and internees from other camps who had refused to take the loyalty oath or had caused disturbances were sent to Tule Lake. At its peak, Tule Lake held 18,789 internees. Tule Lake was also one of the last camps to be closed, staying open until March 20, 1946.

University of Utah