Naja Lyberth

Naja Lyberth (born 1962) is a Greenlandic psychologist and women's rights activist known for her campaign against birth control policies called Danish Coil Campaign in Greenland for Inuit women without their consent. In December 2022, she was named as one of BBC's 100 Women.^[1]

Biography

In 1976, at the age of 13, after a routine medical examination at school, a doctor asked Lyberth to go to the hospital for inserting intrauterine contraceptive device as a part of the birth control practice that affected about 4,500 Inuit women and girls in the 1960s and 1970s.^[2] In 2017, Lyberth was among the first people to publicly discuss the spiral campaign; she wrote on Facebook about her experiences.^[3] She also created a Facebook group to allow people to share their experiences and help each other cope with trauma. More than 70 women joined the group and some shared that they had problems, pain and complications in getting pregnant.^[4]

Lyberth said in 2022 that the coil campaign "stole" her virginity, caused her pain, may have caused complications for her later in life, and continued to traumatise her into adulthood.^[5] In December 2022, Lyberth was included in the 100 Women list by BBC.^[6]

References