section_path: Demographics/Social issues/Compulsory contraception of Inuit women
section_name: Compulsory contraception of Inuit women
paragraph_text: Compulsory contraception of Inuit women
  
  In the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when the population was increasing, 4,500 Greenland Inuit women and girls (roughly half of all fertile females) were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) by Danish doctors. Sometimes girls (as young as 12) were taken directly from school to have these devices inserted, without their parents' permission. The procedure was also carried out on some Inuit girls at boarding schools in Denmark. On 30 September 2022, the Danish Health Minister, Magnus Heunicke, announced a two-year investigation into the decisions leading to the practice and its implementation. Greenlandic doctors also carried out the same illegal procedures on several Inuit women after Greenland took control of its health care system in 1991.
  
  In the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when the population was increasing, 4,500 Greenland Inuit women and girls (roughly half of all fertile females) were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) by Danish doctors. Sometimes girls (as young as 12) were taken directly from school to have these devices inserted, without their parents' permission. The procedure was also carried out on some Inuit girls at boarding schools in Denmark. On 30 September 2022, the Danish Health Minister, Magnus Heunicke, announced a two-year investigation into the decisions leading to the practice and its implementation. Greenlandic doctors also carried out the same illegal procedures on several Inuit women after Greenland took control of its health care system in 1991.