By The Associated Press
Updated March 4, 2024 9:27 am
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — "A group of Indigenous women in Greenland has sued Denmark for forcing them to be fitted with intrauterine contraceptive devices in the 1960s and 1970s and demanded total compensation of nearly 43 million kroner ($6.3 million), their lawyer said Monday.
"The 143 #Inuit women say Danish health authorities violated their #HumanRights when they fitted them with the devices, commonly known as coils. Some of the women — including many who were teenagers at the time — were not aware of what happened or did not consent to the intervention.
"They each are demanding 300,000 kroner ($44,000), the women’s lawyer, Mads Pramming, told The Associated Press.
"The purpose was allegedly 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. The small T-shaped device, made from plastic and copper and fitted in the uterus, prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg.
"Danish authorities say as many as 4,500 women and girls — reportedly half of the fertile women in Greenland — received coil implants between the 1960s and mid-1970s.
"In September 2022, the governments of Denmark and Greenland launched an investigation into the program. The outcome of the probe is due next year.
"But Pramming said they won’t wait until then, and that the only option for the women is to seek justice through the court.
"'The oldest of us are over 80 years old, and therefore we cannot wait any longer,' one of the women, Naja Lyberth, told Greenland public broadcaster KNR. “As long as we live, we want to regain our self-respect and respect for our wombs.”
Warning: details may be disturbing incl. information on what Canada's Senate described as a "horrific practice"
A 2022 Senate report concluded "this horrific practice is not confined to the past, but clearly is continuing today."
In 2023 a doctor was penalized for forcibly sterilizing an Indigenous woman in 2019