Inger Platou involuntarily got an intrauterine device (IUD) in 1976. Old diary entries have now become the book Mit Livs Signelvej (The Signal Road Of My Life).
Inger Platou, who lives in Nuuk, is currently sharing a personal story about getting an IUD without consent.
Inger Platou was 24 years old when one day in 1979, on the operating table at the hospital in Odense, she received the message that would change her life.
The doctor told her that she would not be able to have children.
Inger Platou was admitted to the hospital in connection with an ectopic pregnancy. According to the doctor, it was an IUD she had had inserted a few years earlier that was responsible for the pregnancy not going as desired.
In 1976, Inger Platou had an IUD fitted by a Danish doctor when she was admitted to the hospital in Maniitsoq. An IUD that she does not remember giving consent to or receiving any information about.
What Is The IUD Case?
The DR podcast The IUD Campaign reveals how thousands of girls and women in Greenland had IUDs fitted from 1966 to 1975 as part of the Danish authorities’ strategy to reduce Greenland’s population growth.
According to DR, 4,500 IUDs were fitted from 1966 to 1970.
At that time, there were 9,000 fertile women in Greenland.
Several women say that the IUDs were forced on them and that they experienced it as an assault.
In September 2022, the Greenland Government and the Danish government agreed to launch an investigation into the IUD case. The investigation will uncover the historical context of contraceptive practices in Greenland from 1960 to 1991, including the IUD case. Greenland returned the health sector to its own jurisdiction in 1992.
Inger Platou told the whole story in the book Mit Livs Signlevej, which was first published in Greenlandic last October and has now just been published in Danish by IKUALA Forlag.
“It has been a difficult process to write the book, because all the feelings from that time came back. But I am relieved that the book now exists.”
Mit Liv Signlevej, which in Greenlandic is called Aqqutima Sangutinneqarnera, is also the first book that delves into a personal experience of getting an IUD without consent.
“It is important for me to tell what Greenlandic women had to go through at the time. That we had an IUD inserted without consent and without informing them about the consequences. It was really unfair,” says Inger Platou, who is now 69 years old.
Gave Up Hope
Inger Platou, a retired school teacher, is far from the only woman in Greenland who has experienced getting an IUD without consent.
In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Greenlandic women had IUDs inserted as part of the Danish authorities’ strategy to reduce Greenland’s population growth. This was revealed in the DR podcast Spiralkampagnen in 2022.
Several women have come forward and told about traumatising IUD insertions that had major consequences for their later lives.
Some of the women were as young as 12 years old when they had IUDs inserted, even though at the time IUDs were only intended for women who had already given birth. The IUDs were much larger than those we know today.
Inger Platou at the age of 20, when she had her IUD inserted in Maniitsoq.
At the same time, several women, like Inger Platou, have said that they have subsequently been unable to have children. For Inger Platou, infertility has been a great sorrow.
“I have been to the doctor many times over the years to try to get pregnant, but in the end I had to give up. It has been really hard with many lows and depressions,” she says.
Diary Notes Turned Into A Book
Inger Platou and her husband have instead created their own family with two adopted children from Colombia.
Over the years, she has written several diaries describing the process of childlessness and the adoptions. The diaries were actually intended for her two children, which they could one day read when they grew up.
But when the IUD case really started to unfold, anger flared up in Inger Platou, when she realised that she was part of a larger strategy.
Therefore, the diary notes have instead become a book that everyone can read.
“I am angry that IUDs have been inserted into so many women, including me. That it was done without consent, and that we were not informed about the side effects. We could have been a much larger population if it weren’t for the IUD campaign,” says Inger Platou.
An impartial investigation, initiated by the Greenlandic government and the Danish government, is now delving into the IUD case. The investigation is expected to be completed on September 1.
At the same time, 143 women from the IUD case have sued the Danish state. They are each demanding 300,000 kroner in compensation for having an IUD inserted without consent.
Inger Platou hopes that the investigation will also result in an apology from the Danish state to the women affected. She finds it difficult to understand why the Danish government has not yet apologised.
“An apology would make me feel more understood. I will always have a sadness in my heart, even if they say sorry. What happened had happened, and you can’t change it. But it would mean a lot. I look forward to the case being concluded one day,” she says.
Source: KNR (in Danish)