Denmark and Greenland apologize for forced contraception of Greenlandic women

Nuuk, Greenland — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen offered official apologies in Nuuk on Wednesday for their governments’ roles in a coercive contraception program administered to Greenlandic Indigenous girls and women in the 1960s and 1970s. They announced a reconciliation fund to compensate victims and urged ongoing efforts to address the harms of past policies.

An independent investigation released earlier this month documented the breadth of the program, finding Inuit victims as young as 12 were fitted with intrauterine devices or given hormonal birth-control injections without consent and without full disclosure about the procedures. The report examined accounts from 354 women who spoke with investigators and said the scope was broader, with more than 4,000 women and girls receiving IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s — roughly half of Greenland’s fertile women at the time. Officials cautioned that it is not known how many cases involved coerced or uninformed installation.

Katrine Petersen, now 52 and living in Denmark, said she was 13 when a Danish doctor in Maniitsoq fitted her with an IUD after her pregnancy termination. She recalled being told she had been fitted with the device before leaving the hospital, and said she had kept it to herself because of her age. “Because of my age, I didn’t know what to do,” Petersen said, tearfully. “I kept it inside me and never talked about it.” Petersen removed the device earlier this year after keeping silent for more than three decades, and she said the experience fueled years of anger, depression and alcohol use.

Another elder, Kirstine Berthelsen, 66, who now lives in Copenhagen, said she believes she was 14 when an IUD was installed and recalls “endless pain” afterward. She gave birth to a son at 34 and later faced two additional pregnancies that ended in miscarriages or other complications, which she suspects were linked to the contraception. “Of course, I am angry at the Danish state because of this act,” Berthelsen said as she packed for a one‑way trip to Nuuk for Wednesday’s ceremony. “I wanted to join, so I’ve booked a one-way ticket to Nuuk.”

Greenland’s status within Denmark has evolved since colonial times. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, then a Danish province, before achieving home rule in 1979 and self-government in 2009. The apologies come as Denmark seeks to repair ties with Greenland, which remains in the Danish realm but faces ongoing calls for full independence from a growing Greenlandic movement. The period of forced contraception is part of a broader pattern of policies that critics say dehumanized Greenlanders.

Last month, Denmark and Greenland published apologies ahead of the independent investigation’s release, and officials said the establishment of the reconciliation fund would accompany ongoing efforts to confront the abuses and support victims. The case underscores a broader reckoning with colonial-era policies that affected families and health across Greenland.

Beyond contraception, the investigation described other practices from the era, including the removal of many Inuit children from their families to Danish foster homes for reeducation and contested parental competency tests that led to the forced separation of Greenlandic families. The findings highlight how health and welfare programs were used as tools of assimilation under Danish rule, according to investigators and victims who spoke to the commission.