Denmark and Greenland in Meetings over Contraceptive Spiral Scandal

Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke (Sos.dem) confirms that he had meetings last week with Greenland’s Naalakkersuisoq (minister) for Health Mimi Karlsen (IA) regarding the contraceptive spiral scandal, KNR reports.

Greenland will do what it can to help Denmark investigate the case as well as possible, Heunicke says.

The scandal was revealed by DR through a podcast series published early May in which it appeared that thousands of Greenlandic women and girls had contraceptive spirals inserted in the period from 1966 to the mid-1970’s on order of Danish health authorities, often without their consent or even knowledge. In the 1966-1970 period, 4,500 such insertions were made and at that time, there were 9,000 women of fertile age in Greenland.

The responsibility for health politics in Greenland was only in 1992 transferred from Denmark to Greenlandic authorities.