Greenland ’ s birth rate , average births per woman

Paul Smith WOMEN from Greenland

The devices were designed for women who

indigenous women , including Bebiane , who said she went

She now believes it was inserted when she had an

are demanding compensa-

had gone through childbirth ,

to have an IUD fitted in the

abortion at the age of 16 .

tion after doctors fitted them

but they were still used on

mid-2000s .

Over the following years , not

with IUDs without either

girls as young as 13 .

She was 21 years old at the

only did she experience severe

their consent or knowledge

When the campaign was

time but was told that she

abdominal pain , but she failed

in an attempt to limit Inuit

scaled back in 1974 , Green-

already had a device fitted .

to get pregnant , oblivious to the

birth rates .

land ’ s fertility rate had fallen

“ I remember the tears

reasons why .

Records from the national

from seven children per

rolling down my cheeks , and

Another Inuit woman , who

archives in Denmark show

woman to around 2.3 .

I told them that I couldn ’ t

did not want to be named , told

that between 1966 and 1970

However , according to the

understand how I already

the BBC that she was put under

some 4500 early versions of

BBC , the practice continued .

had a coil in me … How could

general anaesthetic for a proce-

Source : Our World in Data

an IUD called the Lippes Loop were fitted .

Last year , the broadcaster spoke to a series of

I not remember when I had it put in ?”

dure following a miscarriage .

When she regained consciousness

, a nurse was

administering Depo-Provera

( medroxyprogesterone acetate ).

“ I didn ’ t know what it

was , and she didn ’ t ask me if I

wanted it ,” she said .

“ It was just that I should

come back to the hospital to get

it every three months .”

An independent inquiry into

the so-called ‘ Coil Campaign ’

has already been launched by

the Danish Government and is

due to conclude in 2025 .

Naja Lyberth .

But women , some of whom

are in their 70s , are asking for

compensation now amounting

to around $ 67,000 each .

“ We are getting older and

we don ’ t want to wait for the

results of the inquiry ,” said

Naja Lyberth .

“ The oldest of us , who had

IUDs inserted in the 1960s ,

were born in the 1940s and are

approaching 80 .”

Now a psychologist , she said

that some of the Lippes Loop

devices fitted had been too big

for the girls ’ bodies , causing

health complications and , in

some cases , infertility .

Other women had been un aware of the devices until they were discovered following

gynaecological examinations .

She accused the government

back in the 1960s and

’ 70s of attempting to suppress

Greenland ’ s population to

save on its welfare budget .

Last year , Denmark apologised

for the involuntary contraception

program and paid

compensation to six Inuit who

were taken from their families in

the 1950s as part of an attempt

to build a Danish-speaking elite

within Greenland .

Greenland ’ s health minister

told the BBC she was un aware that contraception was still being given to women

without consent .

Greenland has a population

of 57,000 . See letters , page 15