From the late 1960s until 1992, Danish authorities forced around 4,500 Inuit women, around half of all those of child-bearing age, to wear a contraceptive coil — or intrauterine device (IUD) — without their consent.
Dane here: Good, that’s a start at least. The whole thing was beyond heinous.
I agree it was wrong, and it was probably also illegal at the time happened.
For context:
It was done to avoid an explosive population increase which happened in the 60s.
At the time, Greenland had the worlds highest birth rate, despite having access to free contraceptives like condoms and pills, of which information campaigns had obviously failed. A lot of the births were given by teenagers aged 15-20 outside of marriage. Infant mortality also hit records with about 1/3 of the total number of deaths on Greenland being infants. I should note though that Greenland does not have a much higher statistics of inbreeding than elsewhere, despite rumours.
However, something had to be done to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies. The humanitary organization Mødrehjælpen (mothers help) did a test run with volunteers and it gave a positive result.
At the moment it is unclear who or why it was decided to roll out the forced spirals. An investigation of that is happening currently.
The context is appreciated, however I have to take issue with the way this fallacious reasoning is presented as fact, probably much the same way the people justifying this awful decision rationalized it.
However, something had to be done to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies.
a) Not necessarily.
b) How do we know which ones were unwanted?
c) It is better to do nothing at all than to do something you know is wrong. The wrong choice is always wrong.feddit.dk is a interesting context here as well.
Yes, sure, and I’m not trying to defend or downplay the story. I’m just sharing the info that is otherwise only available in Danish.
The past was indeed a horrible time. Social experiments like these happened in many places worldwide. Similar things have happened in America, Russia, China, Brazil, France, Germany. All of which were done because people thought it was a great idea at the time.
Although the damage cannot be undone, at least these women will now receive an apology and some kind of compensation for the wrong-doing.
I do find the timing of the stories very peculiar in light of America’s desire to take control of Greenland.
Earlier this year we had the story about displacement of children, now this, and I predict that next you’ll probably hear about the racist hiring practices in the military, which also occured in the past on Greenland.
All of these happened almost half a century ago or more. There has been plenty of time to bring it up. I am happy that they do bring it up, so it can be redeemed as best as possible, but I do find the timing very convenient for certain people outside the kingdom who is currently interested in sowing division.
They are still taking away people’s children in Greenland for not being racially pure Danes enough. So this is kind of moot.
I don’t know if I’d accept such an apology, but the acknowledgment is at least a step forward.
It’s a pity that it follows a different kind of pressure from the USA. That takes the sincerity out of it a bit.
