Spiral case

The spiral case (also known as the coil campaign, coil case or IUD case; Danish: spiralsagen or spiralkampagnen) is an ongoing investigation into a birth control campaign by the Danish government in Greenland which occurred primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. Danish doctors placed intrauterine devices in thousands of Greenlandic Inuit girls and women, often without consent and under the direction of government officials. The program was created to prevent unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, lower costs, and control Greenland's birth rate. Several cases occurred after the responsibility of the health care system was transferred to the Greenland government in 1991.^[1]

Greenlandic politicians Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, Mimi Karlsen and Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede have described the birth control campaign as genocide, and Greenland's Human Rights Council stated the campaign violated existing privacy regulations. In 2022, the Danish and Greenlandic governments agreed to hold a two-year investigation into the campaign until 1991, though some activists have spoken against the investigation's limited scope. In 2023, the investigation formally began, and 67 women sued the Danish government; the investigation is expected to conclude in 2025.