Greenland iIndigenous women decide to sue Denmark for forced birth control during 60s, 70s

​​​​​​​By Ebad Ahmed

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AA) – A group of Indigenous women from Greenland has decided to sue Denmark for failing to meet their compensation demand of nearly 43 million kroner (approximately $6.3 million) for forcing them to use involuntary birth control in the 1960s and 1970s, Danish and Greenland media reported on Monday.

At least 143 women have alleged that the Danish health authorities fitted them with the contraceptive devices, commonly known as coils, against their will.

The aggrieved women filed a compensation demand with Denmark in Oct. 2023 and are now taking the country to court after receiving no response.

Some of the women, including teenagers at the time, claimed that Denmark did not obtain their consent for their actions and that some were not even aware of what happened.

Denmark has admitted in the past that between the 1960s and mid-1970s, up to 4,500 women were forced to have coil implants, accounting for nearly half of all fertile women in Greenland, to limit their birth rates.

Denmark and Greenland launched a probe into the allegations in September 2022. The investigation findings are expected to be made public next year. Those affected have been offered psychiatric counseling by Copenhagen.

Greenland was a colony under Denmark until 1953 before it got the status of a province in the Scandinavian country. The country was granted home rule in 1979 and three decades later it became a self-governing entity. Denmark, however, maintains jurisdiction over its foreign and defense affairs.