‘It was hell’: How Danish doctors traumatized Greenlandic women

Danish doctors fitted thousands of Greenlandic women with contraceptive coils without their consent during the 1960s and 70s, in a bid to reduce the birth rate. “It was hell,” one woman recalls.

Copenhagen (dpa) – Naja Lyberth was only 14 when a Danish doctor inserted an intrauterine device (IUD) into her vagina, like all the other girls in her hometown of Maniitsoq, Greenland.

“It felt like knives were being pushed into me,” says Lyberth, who is now in her 60s, in the podcast “The Coil Campaign” by Danish broadcaster DR.

Back in 1976, the girls in Lyberth’s class were sent to hospital, where they had IUDs inserted to prevent them from becoming pregnant.

Their parents had not been informed about the procedure. Just like Lyberth and her classmates, thousands of other Greenlandic women had IUDs inserted, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.

Greenland is part of Denmark and only gained more autonomy over its internal affairs in 2009.

Back in the 1960s and ’70s, Denmark was responsible for health-care in Greenland. Many of the women say that the procedure was performed without their consent.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently apologized on behalf of Denmark to the Greenlandic women affected. “We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility,” Frederiksen said in her statement.

Facebook post brings coil scandal to light

Lyberth posted a text about her experience to Facebook in 2017, sparking the reporting on Greenlandic women and the IUDs, or coils. She described what happened that day in 1976 at the hospital in Maniitsoq.

Since then, more and more Greenlandic women have come forward describing similar experiences.

In 2023, the Danish and Greenlandic governments set up an independent commission to investigate the IUD scandal, with a final report expected this year.

Danish state financial concerns sparked IUD programme

In 1953, Greenland, which had been a Danish colony for more than 200 years, formally became part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The government in Copenhagen began a programme to modernize the Arctic territory, 3,000 kilometres away, building schools and housing and sending Danish doctors to expand health care.

Improved medical care increased infant survival rates, leading to higher birth rates. Meeting the needs of a growing population required significant investment in nurseries and medical staff.

In 1966, the Danish government launched the birth control campaign that involved inserting IUDs in Greenlandic women.

Within the first four years, 4,500 women had been fitted with coils. By 1969, the government estimated that 35% of women of reproductive age in Greenland had received an IUD, and the number of births had begun to decline.

‘TheDanish state took my innocence away from me’

Many of the Greenlandic women interviewed by DR found the insertion of the coil traumatic. Some felt they had no choice.

“I couldn’t fight it,” says Lyberth. “I wasn’t brought up to contradict authority.”

In addition, the IUDs used in Greenland at the time were much larger than the copper and hormone IUDs used today. They were made of plastic, difficult to insert and not suitable for women who had never given birth.

“It was hell. I had a foreign body inside me for several years,” recalls Lyberth, who was not yet sexually active when the plastic coil was inserted at the age of 14.

“The Danish state took away my innocence,” she tells tells DR. She has described the incident as the Danish state taking away her virginity.

The broadcaster reports that some girls and women were unaware that the contraceptive had been inserted, in some cases during a routine gynecological examination.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights notes that some Greenlandic girls were as young as 12 when the contraceptive devices were inserted.

143 Greenlandic women sue the Danish state

After the coil scandal of the 1960s and 1970s came to light, women who had coils inserted without their consent also came forward, particularly after Greenland assumed responsibility for its owb health care in 1992.

In late August, Greenland‘s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen apologized to all those affected and promised them compensation.

And Lyberth and 142 other Greenlandic women have filed a lawsuit against the Danish state, claiming violations of their human rights. They are each seeking compensation of 300,000 Danish kroner ($46,760).

According to the Danish Institute for Human Rights, contraceptive procedures are still being performed in Greenland – now largely autonomous – without the consent of girls and women.

But the Danish government is unwilling to comment on the claims until the results of the commission of the inquiry are released.