Greenlandic women were victims of forced sterilization between 1966 and 1975.

This sterilization campaign (Spiralkampagnen) led by the Danish had for objective to reduce the demographic growth of Greenland, then Danish colony. For the subsidies paid for the modernization of Greenland by the Danish State were indexed on it’s demography.

Between 1966 and 1970, nearly 4,500 women, meanly of Inuit origin, had an IUD (also call «spiral») implanted. This represented half of fertile women in Greenland. Many women say that the operation was performed without their consent.

Some even found out, several years later, that they had a «spiral» in their uterus. The youngest women were only 12 years old when they were implanted with such contraceptive method. This «Spiral Campaign» was revealed in the spring of 2022 by a Danish podcast. Documents proving that the Danish authorities has implemented a policy of forced sterilization to reduce Inuit population growth for nearly a decade have been revealed.

Today, the Greenlandic government has requested an official and impartial investigation from the Danish government into this mass sterilization campaign. The investigation started in October 2022 and will end at the end of 2024.