"Denmark apologizes for involuntary birth control in Greenland"

Denmark publicly apologised on Wednesday to Greenlandic women who were victims of a decades-long involuntary birth control campaign, amid efforts by Copenhagen to repair relations with the island and fend off U.S. interest in taking it over.

The birth control campaign came to light in 2022 when records showed that thousands of women and girls as young as 13 had been fitted with intrauterine devices without their knowledge or consent between 1966 and 1991, the year Greenland was given authority over its healthcare system.

"We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility. Therefore, on behalf of Denmark, I would like to say: Sorry," Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

The case is one of several that have emerged in recent years of allegations of misconduct by Danish authorities against the people of Greenland, now a semi-autonomous Danish territory.