Copenhagen, Denmark (AP) – At age 13, Katlin Petersen was equipped with contraceptives from a Danish doctor without consent.
She became pregnant and after a doctor in Manitsuk, the town of Greenlandic, ended her pregnancy, she was fitted with an intrauterine contraceptive commonly known as IUD or Coil.
I currently live at age 52. DenmarkPetersen recalled being told it was attached to the device before he left the hospital.
“Because of my age, I didn’t know what to do,” she said in tears. “I kept it inside me and didn’t talk about it.”
Petersen said her trauma led to “anger, depression, drinking too much.”
Later in her marriage, she was unable to have children.
At the ceremony Greenland The capital of Nuuk on Wednesday Denmark Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen And her Greenland counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen It goes back to the 1960s and offers their official apology for the government’s role in the abuse of Indigenous girls and women in Greenland who were given invasive birth control against their will by Danish health authorities.
“We cannot change what happened, but we can take responsibility and create terms of settlement with the past,” Fredericksen said in a statement released Monday, with the Danish government intending to establish a settlement fund to financially compensate the victims.
last month, Denmark and Greenland have already issued an apology Just before the publication of an independent investigation into abuse, for their role in the abuse of women and girls.
The event comes at a difficult time with President Donald Trump, who exploits the division between Denmark and Greenland I look for influence from usflat Jurisdiction over territory.
Meanwhile, Denmark has tried to appease Greenland’s independence movement, but historical abuse committed by former colonial powers tainted efforts for reconciliation.
Greenland, It continues to be part of the Danish territory, It was a colony under the Danish crown until 1953, when it became a state of Scandinavian country. In 1979, the island was granted home rules, 30 years later Greenland has become a local organization.
Forced contraception of indigenous women and girls spanned centuries of Danish policies that dehumanized Greenlander and their families.
The policy included the removal of young Inuit children from parents given to Danish foster parents for reeducation and controversial parental competence tests that led to forced separation of Greenland families.
Inuit girls under 12 were equipped with birth control pills without consent
an Independent survey published earlier this monthInuit victims under the age of 12 were either equipped with an IUD or were given a hormonal contraceptive injection. They were not informed of details about the procedure or agreed to it.
From pain and bleeding to serious infections, some have described traumatic experiences that left embarrassing and physical side effects, as well as embarrassment and physical side effects.
The report covered the experiences of 354 women who spoke to investigators, but Danish authorities say more than 4,000 women and girls. I received an IUD between the 1960s and the mid-1970s. I don’t know how many people in these cases lack consent.
“Of course I’m thinking about all the women treated like me,” said Petersen, who deleted her IUD earlier this year after not talking about her over 30 years of experience. “I feel with the fellow women in this episode of our lives.”
The suspected purpose of forced birth control was to limit population growth.
The suspected purpose of forced birth control was to limit Greenland’s population growth by preventing pregnancy. The population of the Arctic Island was growing rapidly at the time, due to better living conditions and better health care. Greenland took over its own healthcare program in 1992.
Kirstine Berthelsen, 66, who currently lives in Copenhagen, will be attending an event at Nuuk on Wednesday. She believes she was 14 when she pretended to be an IUD in Greenland. She recalls being taken to the hospital, but has not been given a reason. She remembers that she was in “infinite pain” afterwards.
At age 34, she gave birth to a son, but she believes that the two subsequent unsuccessful pregnancies are the result of complications from birth control.
Many women are still angry, but some say the apology helps reconcile
“Of course I’m angry at the Danish province for this act,” Bartelsen said he packed his suitcases for a flight to Greenland. “I booked a one-way ticket to Nuuk because I wanted to participate.”
For Bartelsen, who is now a retired employee, the official apology is “at the right time.”
“I’m ready for a settlement because it helps me,” she said. “It’s going to be a big event for me personally, and I’m sure it’ll be easier.”
