On August 27, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized to the women of Greenland affected by a birth-control program. In her statement, she said the state cannot change the past but must accept responsibility for what happened.
The roots of the policy lie in eugenic practices that spread across the United States and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. In the Nordic countries, such laws were applied to people authorities deemed “socially unfit.” Researchers estimate that about 63,000 people were sterilized in Sweden, about 11,000 in Denmark, 40,000 in Norway, 1,200 in Iceland, and 7,500 in Finland.
After World War II, Greenland, previously a Danish colony, became part of Denmark. The island underwent modernization, and by the 1960s the birth rate had risen by nearly 80%. Copenhagen viewed this as an excessive burden on the budget and focused primarily on the Indigenous population.
That led to the so-called “IUD campaign”: women and girls, sometimes as young as 13, had intrauterine devices inserted, often without informed consent. Parents of minors were frequently not told. According to available data, about 4,500 women and girls went through this procedure.
Many learned about the intervention only years later, when they sought medical help for pain, menstrual disorders, reproductive injuries, and infertility. At the same time, the authorities regarded the campaign as a success: the birth rate among Greenlandic Inuit fell by half.
The story gained broad public attention after activist Naja Lyberth spoke publicly in 2017 and after Danmarks Radio released the podcast Spiralekampagnen in 2022. In 2023, a joint Danish-Greenlandic investigation began, and victims filed compensation claims. The inquiry is officially due to conclude on January 31, 2026.