Denmark to compensate thousands of Greenlandic women and girls forcibly given contraception

Denmark will compensate Greenlandic Indigenous women and girls for forced contraception, with payouts of 300,000 kroner (about £35,000) each, after decades of practices by health authorities.

The health ministry said women given contraception without their knowledge or consent between 1960 and 1991 can apply for individual compensation starting next April. Claims can be made until June 2028.

Around 4,500 women in Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, may be eligible.

Many Inuit women, including teenagers, were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) — small devices placed in the uterus to prevent pregnancy — or given hormonal injections without proper information or consent.

Health minister Sophie Lohde said: “The IUD case is a dark chapter in our shared history.

“It has had major consequences for the Greenlandic women who have experienced both physical and psychological harm.

“Unfortunately, we cannot remove the pain from the women, but compensation helps to acknowledge and apologise for the experiences they have gone through.”

An independent investigation published in September reported more than 350 Greenlandic Indigenous women and girls, some as young as 12, said they were forcibly given contraception, and more than 4,000 are believed to have been affected overall.

In August, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen issued a public apology, saying that while the past cannot be changed, “we can take responsibility.”