The Danish state is being sued by 143 women from Greenland who claim they were forcibly fitted with intrauterine contraceptive devices in the 1960s.
A group of indigenous women from Greenland have filed a lawsuit against Denmark for being forced to wear intrauterine contraceptive devices in the 1960s and 1970s. The plaintiffs are seeking total compensation of nearly 5.8 million euros, their lawyer said on Monday.
The 143 Inuit women claim that Danish health authorities violated their fundamental rights when they fitted them with these devices. Some of them, many of whom were teenagers at the time, were unaware of what had happened or did not consent to the procedure.
They are each demanding 40,000 euros, the women’s lawyer, Mads Pramming, told the press.
The campaign began a year ago, when women protested during a visit to Greenland by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
As this approach did not result in compensation, they decided to pursue their action before the Danish courts.
The authorities’ objective was to limit population growth in Greenland by preventing pregnancies. The Arctic island’s population was growing rapidly at the time due to better living conditions and health care. The contraceptive device, made from plastic and copper and placed in the uterus, prevented sperm from fertilizing an egg.
Danish authorities claim that up to 4,500 women and girls – who are believed to represent half of Greenland’s fertile women – had an IUD implanted between the 1960s and the mid-1970s.
We can’t wait any longer
In September 2022, the governments of Denmark and Greenland launched an investigation into this controversial program. The findings of the investigation are expected next year.
But the plaintiffs’ lawyer said she would not wait until then and that the only option for the women was to seek justice in court.
“The oldest among us are over 80 years oldand so we can’t wait any longer.” Naja Lyberth, one of the women, told KNR, Greenland’s public broadcaster. “As long as we live, we want to regain respect for ourselves and our wombs.”
Naja Lyberth was 14 when she had an IUD inserted and she was one of the first to speak out about it.
The Danish government offered psychiatric follow-up to those affected.
Last year, 67 women took initial legal action against Denmark over forced contraception. “The pain, physical and emotional, that they felt is still present today”said Health Minister Magnus Heunicke.
Denmark’s dark past
Denmark’s past actions in Greenland have haunted Danish authorities in recent years.
In 2020, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized to 22 Greenlandic children who had been forcibly taken to Denmark in 1951 as part of a failed social experiment.
The goal was to modernize Greenland and give children a better life, but it ended with an attempt to train a new type of Inuit by re-educating them and hoping that they would later return to their homeland and foster cultural ties .
Greenland, part of the Danish Kingdom, was a colony under the Danish crown until 1953, when it became a province of the Scandinavian country.
In 1979, the island was granted autonomy and, 30 years later, Greenland became an autonomous entity. Denmark, however, retains control of its foreign affairs and defense. In 1992, Greenland regained control of its health sector in Copenhagen.
