Over 350 Greenlandic women and girls forcibly given contraception by
Danish officials, report says
[September 10, 2025]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More than 350 Greenlandic Indigenous women
and girls, including some 12 years old and younger, reported that they
were forcibly given contraception by Danish health authorities in cases
that date to the 1960s, according to an independent investigation's
findings released Tuesday.
The Inuit victims, many of them teenagers at the time, were either
fitted with intrauterine contraceptive devices, known as IUDs or coils,
or given a hormonal birth control injection. They were not told details
about the procedure, or did not give their consent.
The victims described traumatic experiences that left some with feelings
of shame as well as physical side effects, ranging from pain and
bleeding to serious infections.
The governments of Denmark and Greenland officially apologized in a
statement last month for their roles in the historic mistreatment in an
apparent attempt to get ahead of the highly anticipated report. An
official apology event in Greenland's capital is set for Sept. 24.
Nearly 150 Inuit women last year sued Denmark and filed compensation
claims against its health ministry, saying Danish health authorities
violated their human rights. That case remains ongoing.
While Tuesday's report covers the experiences of more than 350 women who
came forward to speak to the investigators, Danish authorities say more
than 4,000 women and girls — reportedly half the fertile women in
Greenland at the time — received IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s.
The alleged purpose was to limit population growth in Greenland by
preventing pregnancies. The population on the Arctic island was rapidly
increasing at the time because of better living conditions and better
health care.
Greenland took over its own health care programs on Jan. 1, 1992.
Centuries of dehumanizing policies
The investigation’s conclusion comes as Greenland is in the headlines
alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he seeks
U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland. He has not ruled out a military force
to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic
island.
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Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's
Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, right, during a statement at
Marienborg, Denmark, April 27, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau
Scanpix via AP, file)
 The leaders of Denmark and Greenland
say the island is not for sale. Denmark’s foreign minister recently
summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country for talks after the
main national broadcaster reported that at least three people with
connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence
operations in Greenland.
Greenland, which remains part of the Danish realm,
was a colony under Denmark’s crown until 1953, when it became a
province in the Scandinavian country. In 1979, the island was
granted home rule, and 30 years later Greenland became a
self-governing entity.
The forced contraception of Indigenous women and girls was part of
centuries of Danish policies that dehumanized Greenlanders and their
families.
The policies included the removal of young Inuit children from their
parents to be given to Danish foster families for reeducation and
controversial parental competency tests that resulted in the forced
separation of Greenlandic families.
The report's findings
The investigators received reports from 354 Greenlandic women who
were between 48 and 89 years old when they spoke to authorities for
the independent investigation, which began June 1, 2023 following a
media outcry.
Almost all victims were between 12 and 37 years old at the time. One
girl was under 12, but her exact age was not made public in
Tuesday's report due to anonymity concerns. The vast majority of the
procedures occurred in Greenland.
An attorney representing some of the victims could not immediately
be reached for comment Tuesday.
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