Ordeal of Inuit girls from Greenland given birth control without consent

Naja Lyberth is a psychologist who specialises in trauma. Her training brought to the fore the ordeal she and others were subjected to as schoolgirls: the forced insertion of an IUD. She wasn’t aware of what had been done to her and endured the pain caused by the IUD that was too big for a girl her age. Years later, when she tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant, the IUD was removed

Today many of those who as girls who were subjected to the Danish coil campaign in Greenland are dead. In many cases they died of natural causes but in others their deaths resulted from infections of the uterus, which they had to struggle with all their lives. These happened because IUDs were inserted at an unsuitable age, often remaining inside the uterus for years without medical supervision

In 1975, Magdalene Larsen was in high school at Nuuk when she was told to go to the doctor for a check-up. She doesn’t recall what happened in the operating theatre, but recalls the pain and bleeding that lasted for weeks. At the age of 20 the abdominal pain prompted her to see a doctor who found and removed the IUD. The pain never stopped completely and she had two miscarriages from ectopic pregnancies, probably caused by damage to the cervix by the IUD. She was eventually able to give birth to her only child, a daughter

The modern city of Nuuk dates back to 1721, when Hans Egede, a Danish-Norwegian missionary, founded a colony here with the name Godthåb, which means “Good Hope” in Danish

Arnaq Johansen had a spiral coil inserted at the age of 12. It damaged her uterus to such an extent that, even though it was removed when she was 19, she was unable to have children. She never told anyone she had been subjected to forced contraception, not even her husband for whom she was unable to bear the children he desired. This remains her greatest regret. Only after reading Naja’s story did she began to talk about her “shame” and discover she was not the only person with this pain and was not to blame for it

When Jacobine Berthelsen was 11, doctors inserted an IUD without explanation. Her body rejected it and she suffered from infection. The treatment was inflicted on her four times. When her mother died she was sent for adoption in Denmark. Aged 19, she returned to Greenland and had three girls. Her fourth pregnancy was terminated for health reasons

Arnaq Knudsen Frederiksen is 42. She got pregnant aged 14 and had an abortion. During the operation, an IUD was inserted without informing her. At 21 she tried, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant. A doctor found out she had had an IUD for seven years. Since then she has had several abortions due to ectopic pregnancies – apparently due to damage to the cervix from the IUD. She recently adopted a girl, but has never been able to have children of her own

Nuuk has a tundra climate, with snowy winters and short, changeable summers. Rather than blooming flowers, spring is marked by melting snow

Holga Platou underwent IUD insertion without consent at the age of 13. Out of shame and fear, she didn’t talk to anyone about what had happened and suppressed the memory of the event despite continuous pain during her menstrual cycle. Holga was unable to have children and no doctor could identify the spiral that had probably been absorbed by her uterus during the many years it remained there. In 2018, after constant bleeding and infections, Holga had a hysterectomy

The Inuit people have been forced to move from their villages to urban areas and government-provided public housing. Commercial hunting and fishing methods have undermined the traditional activities of the population, many of whom have lost their jobs