Australian Doctor 3rd November 2023 3rd Nov 23 | Page 4

4 NEWS

4 NEWS

3 NOVEMBER 2023 ausdoc . com . au

Women never told about IUDs

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