Denmark’s leader apologizes to Indigenous girls and women in Greenland for forced contraception

By James Brooks COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — At age 13, Katrine Petersen was fitted with a contraceptive device by Danish doctors without her consent. She had become pregnant, and after doctors in the Greenlandic town of Maniitsoq terminated her pregnancy, they fitted her with an intrauterine contraceptive device, commonly known as an IUD, or coil. Now 52 and living in Denmark, Petersen recalled being told she had been fitted with the device before leaving the hospital. “Because of my age, I didn’t know what to do,” she said tearfully. “I kept it inside me and never talked about it.” Petersen said her trauma led to “anger, depression, and too much to drink,” as she suppressed memories of her experiences and didn’t speak about it with doctors. Later in life, after…

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