Forced contraception: Denmark apparently had Greenlandic women put in hormonal IUDs against their will

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Greenland's capital Nuuk: Half of all fertile women on the Arctic island are said to have been affected

Photo: Martin Zwick / UIG / IMAGO

Denmark's recent colonial past is catching up with the country again.

Only a few weeks after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen personally apologized to several Greenlanders for the fact that Greenlandic children were torn from their families and forcibly adopted to Denmark in the 1950s, new allegations are now being made.

According to research by Danmarks Radio, Copenhagen not only took Greenlandic children out of the country, but also systematically prevented births – well into the 1970s.

We are talking about contraceptives, some of which are forced, on the mostly indigenous population.

Women in Greenland are said to have been implanted with hormone spirals - in many cases against the will of those affected.

According to the broadcaster, numerous schoolgirls in the country were given the contraceptive by a school doctor at the age of 14 or 15.

Should costs for the Greenland colony be pushed down?

There is talk of 4,500 administered spirals between 1966 and 1975. Many of those affected were physically and mentally traumatized.

With a total of around 20,000 female Greenlanders in their 60s, up to half of all fertile women on the island could have been affected.

The fear of higher costs for day care centers, schools or clinics in Greenland is said to have been the reason.

There was also the goal of preventing unwanted or illegitimate pregnancies among young Greenlandic women.

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, who has been a member of the Danish parliament in Copenhagen for the Greenlandic social democratic party Siumut since 2019, expressed her outrage after the research was published.

"It borders on genocide," she said, according to the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitisiaq.

The politician demands clarification as to who was responsible for the treatments at the time and who set the goal of reducing the birth rate in Greenland.

The damage caused by this must be acknowledged.

The Greenlandic government, Naalakkersuisut, is also demanding an investigation, according to Sermitsiaq.

"So that we know what's going on," said the Minister for Children, Youth, Families and Health in Greenland, Mimi Karlsen.

"It's a tough but necessary story that needs to be brought to light."

Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told Danmarks Radio he wanted to launch an investigation.

The Social Democrat spoke of a "deeply problematic health practice that is completely incomprehensible from today's perspective".

However, he has not yet had any precise information about the events.

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