Denmark’s PM apologizes in person to Greenland women over forced contraception
Denmark’s prime minister apologized in person on Wednesday to women who were victims of a decades-long involuntary birth control campaign, which has left islanders with deep scars and strained relations with their former colonial power.
Thousands of women and girls as young as 12 were fitted with intrauterine devices without their knowledge or consent between 1966 and 1991, the year Greenland was given authority over its healthcare system.
“I don’t believe we can achieve the more equal and proper relationship that many of us desire unless we dare opening even the darkest chapters,” Mette Frederiksen, dressed all in black, said at a ceremony in Greenland’s capital Nuuk.
The ceremony marks another step in Denmark’s accelerated efforts to repair ties with Greenland since U.S. President Donald Trump this year began vowing to take control of the vast, resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
“Therefore the apology I offer today is not only about the past. It is also about our present and our future. About the mutual trust that must exist between us,” Frederiksen told victims, some of whom wiped tears from their faces.
Physical and psychological scars
An investigation this month showed that 4,070 women had been fitted with intrauterine devices by the end of 1970 – roughly every second Greenlandic-born woman of childbearing age.
A large number of women reported debilitating abdominal pain and many have not been able to have children even after their device was removed, often due to severe infections.
“Receiving an apology does not mean that we accept what has happened. We are here today because we do not accept what has happened,” said Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who also wore black.
“But it is up to all of us to take the next steps.”
Naja Lyberth, who is leading a group of women who last year sought legal compensation from Denmark over the campaign, thanked Frederiksen for her apology, saying it created space for Greenlanders to work through their shared trauma.
“The state has now emphasized that we are equal souls within the Danish realm,” said Lyberth, who herself got an IUD aged 14.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Pope Francis finishes Canadian visit in Nunavut, CBC News
Finland: Truth and Reconciliation Commission should continue says Sami Parliament in Finland, Eye on the Arctic
Greenland: Contraception forced on over 350 Greenlandic women, girls by Danish officials: report, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Can cross-border cooperation help decolonize Sami-language education, Eye on the Arctic
Sweden: Sami in Sweden start work on structure of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Eye on the Arctic
United States: Apology long overdue for U.S. Indian boarding schools, says former student, Alaska Public Media
