A newly appointed Ibaraki education board member has sparked online outrage after suggesting the prefecture back more prenatal screening to reduce the "burden" on parents of having a disabled child.
Speaking at an education policy meeting Wednesday, Chieko Hasegawa, the 71-year-old vice president of Tokyo-based Gallery Nichido, said that the prefecture should set up a system to enable pregnant women to find out whether their unborn babies have any disabilities.
"We need to drastically change our way of thinking. It's best if technology can help us know whether our kids are disabled beforehand," she said, according to a media report confirmed by the board to The Japan Times.
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