Greenland IUD case compensation has been approved by the Danish Parliament (Folketinget), giving eligible Greenlandic women DKK 300,000 (about €40,135) each if they were given contraception without consent or without sufficient consent between 1960 and 1991. The measure, passed by a broad parliamentary majority on Thursday, 27 August, follows decades of testimony from women affected by Denmark’s contraceptive practices in Greenland.
The legislation establishes a compensation scheme administered by the Danish Patient Compensation Association (Patienterstatningen). Applications have been open since 1 July 2026 and can be submitted until 1 September 2028. The law is expected to enter into force on 1 September 2026, after which the first applications can be decided.
Who can receive compensation in the Greenland IUD case
The scheme covers women who were subjected to contraception without consent or sufficient consent in Greenland or Denmark between 1960 and 1991, when Denmark was responsible for Greenland’s healthcare system.
According to the Danish authorities, around 4,500 women could qualify. Each eligible woman will receive DKK 300,000 regardless of the contraceptive method involved or the number of incidents.
The latter provision has attracted criticism in Greenland. Greenlandic representatives had proposed allowing compensation for each separate violation rather than a single payment per woman.
Qarsoq Høegh-Dam, a Danish MP from the Greenlandic party Naleraq, welcomed the final approval but described it as only “the tip of the iceberg”.
“It is the least we can do,” he told Parliament, according to DR’s report on the vote.
Thousands of women were given IUDs
The so-called spiral case (spiralsagen), also known more broadly as the contraception case (antikonceptionssagen), concerns the use of IUDs and other contraceptives on Greenlandic girls and women, frequently without their knowledge or informed consent.
An independent historical investigation published in September 2025 found that by the end of 1970 at least 4,070 women in Greenland had been given an IUD, equivalent to about half of Greenland-born women of reproductive age at the time.
The investigation collected accounts from 354 women covering 488 contraceptive interventions. In most of the testimonies concerning IUD insertion, researchers found either no clear evidence of consent or accounts stating that consent had not been given.
Some of the women were minors. The broader practice continued through the period covered by the investigation until Greenland assumed responsibility for its healthcare system in 1992.
One of the women interviewed by DR ahead of the parliamentary vote, Inger Platou, said she was given an IUD when she was 20 without being asked. She later suffered an ectopic pregnancy and said damage to her fallopian tubes left her unable to have biological children.
Denmark and Greenland apologised in 2025
The compensation scheme follows the official apologies issued by Denmark and Greenland in 2025.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologised on behalf of Denmark for the systematic discrimination experienced by Greenlandic women while Denmark was responsible for healthcare in Greenland. Greenland’s Prime Minister (Naalakkersuisut siulittaasuat) Jens-Frederik Nielsen separately apologised for cases that occurred after Greenland assumed responsibility for the healthcare system.
The apologies were formally marked at an event in Nuuk in September 2025 attended by affected women.
The Danish compensation legislation concerns the period up to 1991. Applications will be handled by Patienterstatningen, which plans information trips across Greenland to help women understand the scheme and submit claims in either Danish or Greenlandic.
The approval gives the women affected by the Greenland IUD case a formal route to individual financial compensation. It does not, however, settle the wider debate over responsibility for Denmark’s treatment of Greenlanders or demands that multiple violations against the same woman should result in separate payments.
