Denmark Under Pressure Over Its Decades-Long Forced Contraception of Greenlandic Women – Now, Reports Investigate Whether this Constitutes Genocide

Around half of fertile women in the Arctic Island were fitted with IUDs or given hormone birth control shots.

From the 1960’s and into the early 1990’s, Denmark imposed an inhuman sterilization program on Greenlandic Inuit women, with the purpose of limiting population growth in the self-governing territory.

Now, against the background of Donald J. Trump’s decision to control the island, the Danish are under fire for their mistreatment of the indigenous populations.

Two separate reports investigating the forcible contraception of thousands of Indigenous women and girls are divided over a core question: does it constitute genocide?

🚨#BREAKING: Greenland declares it “cannot yet conclude” whether Denmark’s forced contraception campaign against Inuit women meets the legal definition of genocide.

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) August 28, 2026

Associated Press reported:

“The Greenlandic government, which commissioned the inquiry, released the reports Friday but, when pressed by journalists during a news conference, would not say whether its leaders concluded whether a genocide had occurred. The government told the authors to use the definition under the United Nations’ 1948 genocide convention, which includes ‘imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group’.

[…] Known as the ‘spiral case,’ the revelations have rocked both Denmark and Greenland. More than 350 Greenlandic Indigenous women and girls, including some 12 years old and younger, previously came forward to investigators and reported that they were forcibly given contraception by Danish health authorities. Denmark says more than 4,000 women and girls — reportedly half the fertile women in Greenland at the time — received IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s.”

🧵Major developments re: Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland:

Greenland’s official genocide report finds a reasonable basis to believe Denmark violated the Genocide Convention by implanting Greenlandic girls with birth-control devices without consent.

— Paul Mauro (@PaulDMauro) August 28, 2026

“The Inuit victims, many of them teenagers at the time, said they were either fitted with intrauterine contraceptive devices, known as IUDs or coils, or given a hormonal birth control injection. They were not told details about the procedure, or did not give their consent.”

At least 4,000 Greenlandic women and girls, some as young as 12, received intrauterine devices or contraceptive injections between 1966 and 1991, often without their consent or knowledge. https://t.co/wZZKGqHZbe

— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) August 28, 2026

Two reports investigating the forcible contraception of thousands of Indigenous women and girls in Greenland by Danish health authorities for decades were split over whether the practice constituted genocide. https://t.co/l20YZv8vb9

— APTN News (@APTNNews) August 28, 2026

“The Danish government on Thursday approved payouts of 300,000 Danish kroner (about $46,500) to each victim. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen officially apologized last year.”

Denmark to pay compensation to Greenland’s women for 30 years of forced contraception — Ritzau

During 1960-90s Denmark conducted a campaign to forcibly insert intrauterine devices into Greenland’s women starting from the age of 12

MTodayNews pic.twitter.com/2Z7PaYvb1Z

— Jack Straw (@JackStr42679640) August 27, 2026

Read more:

Denmark Summons US Ambassador Over Alleged ‘Covert Influence Operations’ in Greenland, as Copenhagen Apologizes for Decades of Forced Sterilization of Inuit Greenlander Women