Forced contraception of women in Greenland

From the 1960s through the 1990s, Danish physicians forced contraception onto thousands of Greenlandic Inuit women and girls, often as young as 12 years old, by placing intrauterine devices (IUDs) in them without consent, under the direction of the Danish government.[1]

The purpose of the campaign was to reduce the birth rate in Greenland. Some cases also occurred after the responsibility of the health care system was transferred to the Greenland government in 1991.[2] Allegations continued into the 2000s, with the most recent reported cases in 2018.[3]

While Greenlandic politicians Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, Mimi Karlsen and former Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede have described the birth control campaign as genocide, Danish jurist Frederik Harhoff described the campaign as an injustice but lacking genocidal intent. Greenland's Human Rights Council stated the campaign violated existing privacy regulations.

In 2022, the Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to hold a two-year investigation into the campaign, though some activists have spoken against the investigation's limited scope. In 2023, the investigation formally began, and 67 women sued the Danish government. The investigation is scheduled to conclude in 2026. In September 2025, the report was released.[4][5] Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen have formally apologized for the case.[6][7]

Involuntary fertility control program

Between around 1966 and 1975, thousands of Greenlandic Inuit girls and women had intrauterine devices (IUDs) inserted to prevent pregnancy under the direction of the Danish government and by Danish doctors.[8] This practice is referred to in Danish as spiralsagen or spiralkampagnen, translated variously as the "spiral case", "spiral campaign", "coil case", "coil campaign", or the "IUD case"; the specific type of IUD used was referred to as a "coil" (Danish: spiral).

Half of the 9,000 women in Greenland who could have children were given IUDs in the first five years of the program;[9] some of the affected girls were as young as 12,[10] and in many cases, women (and in the case of girls, their parents) did not consent to the procedure.[11] For instance, Naja Lyberth was 13 or 14 years old, Elisibánguak' Jeremiasssen was 13,[12] and Arnannguaq Poulsen was 16 and staying in Denmark when she received hers.[13] All of the girls in Lyberth's class were told to have IUDs placed by a visiting doctor[14] and then taken to a hospital for them to be inserted.[15]

The purpose of the campaign was to reduce the birth rate in Greenland, and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reported that this was intended to reduce costs for Denmark in funding daycare institutions, schools and health facilities in Greenland.[16][17] Thousands of girls and women ultimately had IUDs placed without their consent during the campaign.[15] As a result, the birth rate in Greenland was halved in just a few years.[10]

Portions of the campaign were unlawful.[14] In Greenland, it was illegal for doctors to give girls contraception without parental consent until 1970; past 1970, it was against the law for doctors to place IUDs in girls, like Lybert, who were under 15 and had never been pregnant.[14] Greenland received autonomy in its healthcare system in 1991.[18]

Investigations and reaction

In 2017, Naja Lyberth was among the first people to publicly discuss the spiral campaign; she wrote on Facebook about her experiences.[14] In 2022, the podcast Spiralkampagnen ("Spiral Campaign"), hosted by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation,[18] uncovered the campaign's records.[10] Following the podcast's release that year, politicians and human rights organisations began calling for investigations; the party Naleraq wrote legislation to investigate.[19] On 2 June, the Inatsisartut (Greenlandic parliament) voted to demand that the Danish government investigate the history of the campaign.[20] Later that year, the Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to begin a two-year investigation.[21] It seeks to document the background of the birth control campaign; its implementation, including Greenlandic government involvement; the reasons the campaign began and continued; and other fertility control programs through 1991.[22] The investigation formally began in May 2023; it was scheduled for completion in May 2025,[23] but investigators requested an extension until 31 January 2026.[24] The investigators are all women from Greenland and Denmark.[23]

The Inuit Ataqatigiit Minister of Health, Mimi Karlsen, asked women affected by the fertility control program to call Tusaannga, a social services and support hotline.[18] Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, a Siumut member of the Folketing (Danish parliament) called the campaign genocide.[11] She stated that in the Danish desire to modernise Greenland, elevating the material conditions of its residents was too expensive, so the government instituted a program to commit genocide on the population.[25] Danish lawyer Mads Pramming likened the case to the Little Danes experiment, a 1951 Danish operation that resettled 22 Greenlandic children in Denmark.[26] Lyberth said in 2022 that the campaign stole her virginity, caused her pain, may have caused complications for her later in life, and continued to traumatise her into adulthood.[14] According to Greenland's Human Rights Council, regulations regarding family life and privacy were violated.[10]

Some activists have criticised the limited scope of the campaign, which extends only to 1991. In December 2022, BBC News noted that numerous women and girls allege that this campaign continued after 1991.[27] Karlsen said in a BBC interview that she would forward allegations to the Greenlandic medical authorities to see if they are true and if they reflect widespread practises related to the spiral case.[27] At least nine women have reported post-1991 nonconsensual IUD placements to the government; medical investigators found four operations occurred without consent (three had documented consent), eight of the nine cases are alleged to have happened after the year 2000, and most happened while the women were under anesthesia for induced abortions.[28] Nivi Olsen, a Demokraatit member of the Inatsisartut, has called for the investigation to be broadened to include post-1991 birth control measures.[28]

In October 2023, Lyberth and 66 other women sued the Danish government for DKK 300,000 each (approximately US$47,695).[29] In March 2024, 143 women sued the Danish government and demanded 43 million kroner, in total.[30] In response to the investigation, Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede accused Denmark of committing the crime of genocide in Greenland.[31]

In response to the allegation that the campaign amounted to genocide, spokesperson for the Conservative People's Party in Denmark Rasmus Jarlov and Danish Social Liberal Party leader Martin Lidegaard have denied the accusation, both claiming that there was no concerted effort to exterminate Greenlandic Inuit.[32] Trine Mach, a spokesperson for Red–Green Alliance, neither disputed nor endorsed calling the practice genocide, although she asked for Denmark to apologise for the practice.[32] Among academics, the label of genocide is disputed; Danish jurist Frederik Harhoff argued that it may have been a crime against humanity or a human rights violation, but it did not amount to genocide,[32] and he argued there was a lack of genocidal intent on the part of authorities to clear Greenland of its indigenous population.[33] Colonial researcher Naja Graugaard Dyrendom argued that the practice was propelled by ethnic animus and should be investigated as a genocide.[32]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Denmark to compensate thousands of Indigenous women and girls in Greenland over forced contraception". Associated Press. 10 December 2025. Archived from the original on 28 December 2025.
  2. ^ "Grønland har ansvar for 15 spiralsager" [Greenland is responsible for 15 spiral cases]. Sermitsiaq (in Danish). Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  3. ^ Murray, Adrienne (27 August 2025). "Denmark apologises to Greenland's forced contraception victims". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 February 2026.
  4. ^ Tekeli, Maya; Gettleman, Jeffrey (9 September 2025). "Denmark Forced Contraception on Greenlandic Girls, a Scathing Report Confirms". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ^ "Uvildig udredning af antikonceptionspraksis i Kalaallit Nunaat i perioden 1960-1991" (PDF). ism.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 September 2025.
  6. ^ Murray, Adrienne (24 September 2025). "Greenland contraception scandal victims hear Danish PM's emotional apology". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Denmark's PM apologises in person to Greenland women over forced contraception". Reuters. 24 September 2025. Archived from the original on 5 January 2026.
  8. ^ Murray 2022; Veirum 2022.
  9. ^ Hivert 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d Murray 2022.
  11. ^ a b Veirum 2022.
  12. ^ Platou & Hyldal 2022.
  13. ^ Møller 2022; Murray 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d e Møller 2022.
  15. ^ a b DR 2022.
  16. ^ Fuglsang Holm 2022: "danske politikere i 60-70'erne havde en helt bevidst strategi om at nedbringe befolkningsvæksten i Grønland" Google Translate: ["Danish politicians in the 60s and 70s had a very conscious strategy of reducing population growth in Greenland"]
  17. ^ Veirum 2022: "Kampagnen blev ifølge DR [Danmarks Radio] sat i gang med den begrundelse, at et stigende fødselstal betød højere udgifter for Danmark til daginstitutioner, skoler og sundhedsfaciliteter i Grønland." Google Translate: ["According to DR [Danish Broadcasting Corporation], the campaign was launched on the grounds that an increasing birth rate meant higher costs for Denmark for daycare institutions, schools and health facilities in Greenland."]
  18. ^ a b c Kristensen 2022a.
  19. ^ Kristensen 2022b.
  20. ^ Jyllands-Posten 2022.
  21. ^ Kristensen 2022c.
  22. ^ Murray 2022; Kristensen 2022c.
  23. ^ a b Kristensen 2023.
  24. ^ Kristensen 2025.
  25. ^ Veirum 2022: "blev staten også forpligtigtet til at modernisere Grønland og hæve velfærdsniveauet. Men da 'projektet' viste sig at være dyrt, besluttede den danske stat at begå folkemord blot for at spare på økonomien" [the state was also obligated to modernise Greenland and improve its welfare. But when the 'project' turned out to be expensive, the Danish state decided to commit genocide simply to save the economy].
  26. ^ Hansen 2022.
  27. ^ a b Jung 2022.
  28. ^ a b Møller 2023.
  29. ^ Koue & Møller 2023.
  30. ^ "Grønlands spiralkampanje: Oppfordrer dansk minister til å høre ofrenes historie" [Greenland's spiral campaign: Calls on Danish Minister to Hear Victims' Story]. Dagsavisen (in Norwegian). 29 March 2024. Archived from the original on 20 October 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  31. ^ Bryant, Miranda (6 January 2025). "Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 25 February 2026. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  32. ^ a b c d Møller & Sørensen 2024.
  33. ^ Høstrup & Mortensen 2024.
  34. ^ Nilsson-Julien, Estelle (21 January 2025). "Denmark abandons controversial 'parenting competency' tests used on Greenlanders". Euronews. Archived from the original on 25 February 2026. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  35. ^ Marsden, Harriet (10 February 2025). "The 'racist' parenting test fuelling Denmark-Greenland tensions". The Week. Archived from the original on 25 February 2026. Retrieved 24 August 2025.

Works cited

Further reading

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