Danish denial as minister is urged to get ona plane’

The Danish health minister should "get on a plane and visit" some of the thousands of women thought to be living with the consequences of being forcibly fitted with the contraceptive coil as children, Greenland's gender equality minister has said.

- Miranda Bryant

In an attempt to reduce the population of the former Danish colony, at least 4,500 women and girls are believed to have undergone the medical procedure, usually without their consent or knowledge, at the hands of Danish doctors between 1966 and 1970. The total number of those affected by the procedures, thought to have continued for decades, is understood to be far higher.

Victims and lawyers say generations of Inuit women were left traumatised and suffering reproductive complications, including infertility. Last month, a group of 143 women sued the Danish state over the alleged violations, but they have yet to receive a response from the government.