Greenlandic women sue Danish state for contraceptive ‘violation’

Nearly 150 Greenlandic women have sued the Danish state, alleging that they were fitted with the contraceptive coil without their consent or knowledge.

A group of 143 women took legal action on Monday, demanding a collective payment of close to 43m Danish kroner (£4.9m) for what they describe as a violation of their human rights.

Some of the women were as young as 12 when they say they were fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD) by Danish doctors in an attempt to reduce Greenland’s population. It is believed that 4,500 women and girls were affected between 1966 and 1970.

Last October, 67 women came forward to demand that the state compensate them, or face legal action, but the government did not act. Since then, the number of women – each seeking 300,000 Danish kroner (£34,430) – has more than doubled.

Naja Lyberth, who was the first woman to come forward to say that she had been fitted with a coil during a state medical examination as a young teenager without her consent, has accused the state of concerted sterilisation.

Accusing the government of “dragging out the time”, Lyberth said the women, the oldest of whom is now over 80 years old, cannot wait any longer.

She told the Greenlandic broadcasting corporation, Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR): “As long as we live, we want to regain our self-respect and respect for our wombs. There is no government to decide whether we should have children or not.”

Lyberth said in October that although she had gone on to have a child at 35, after difficulty getting pregnant, many of the women found they were unable to conceive. One woman only found out in 2022 that she had been fitted with a coil.

“It was the same as sterilising the girls from the beginning,” said Lyberth, a psychologist and women’s activist, at the time. Many women were also left with severe pain, internal bleeding and abdominal infections.

Despite Lyberth sharing her story publicly several years ago, it has taken a long time for the scandal to attract widespread attention in Denmark.

Greenland, which was a Danish colony until 1953, has its own local government but is also part of the realm of Denmark and has two representatives in the Danish parliament.

Last year, the Danish state and Naalakkersuisut, the Greenlandic government, launched an impartial investigation into the coil case and other pregnancy prevention practices carried out in Greenland between 1960 and 1991, when the autonomous territory took back control of its health sector. But the investigation is not due to report until May 2025.

The Danish interior and health ministry said it “looks forward to receiving and reading the subpoena”.

The interior and health minister, Sophie Løhde, said: “It is a tragic matter, and we must get to the bottom of what happened, which is why a team of researchers is currently conducting an independent and impartial investigation.”