The Greenland birth control scandal was told to the whole world. In the scandal, it was revealed that thousands of women in Greeland were fitted with a contraceptive device to control birth. It was known that women were often implanted with these devices without their consent.
A Danish campaign was launched in the early 60s and 70s where women were implanted with contraceptive devices. According to sources, accounts were gathered from women who were victims of the so-called “Coil Campaign.”
A video was released on the internet where women that were victims of the Coil Campaign were asked to share their experiences. A woman named Bebiane was interviewed. Bebiane was 21 years old, and she went to implant the device.
She said when the doctor was about to start the operation to fit the device, they were whispering something. Bebiane said she knew something was wrong and asked the doctors about the issue.
She added the doctors told her she already had a device implanted in her for a long time.
She said, “I remember the tears rolling down my cheeks, and I told them that I couldn’t understand how I already had a coil in me… How could I not remember when I had it put in?“
Bebiane said she thinks the contraceptive device could only have been implanted in her body when at the age of 16 when she had undergone an abortion in early 2000.
She said after the device was removed, it caused several side effects. She said she would suffer from severe pain in her abdominal area. This also led her to avoid climbing the stairs.
She said, “I went to the hospital so many times and they didn’t know what was wrong with me… [The pain] came when I had my period, but it also came when I didn’t have my period.”
Bebiane said she would cry whenever she had periods. After not conceiving a child for more than a year, she was advised by her friend to implant the device. This was the time she discovered that she already had a device in her system.
Bebiane removed the device and dropped the idea of implanting a new one. After a year, she was pregnant.
Mira was also interviewed, and she was another victim of the Coil campaign. In the interview, she said that in 2019, she discovered that a device was implanted in her system.
According to her, She went for a medical examination and the doctors found that she had a device in her body. She was shocked after hearing this.
Mira believes that in 2018, the device was implanted in her system when she was undergoing minor uterine surgery.
She said after the surgery, she was suffering from a lot of pain and found that she had a device in her system when she did a medical checkup a year later.
Mira is currently 45 years old, and she had to undergo surgery to remove the device. She said the doctor told her that they had removed her uterus as it could cause cancer.
The surgery was unsuccessful, and now, she cannot get pregnant. She can’t have a romantic relationship with anyone as it leads to more bleeding.
The practice of implanting the device without a woman’s consent is still being practiced. So, the women, victims of the Coil Campaign, spoke out at Vigil and decided that nothing would be practiced on them without their consent.