– They took it away you that you were created to accomplish. They went around you to get inside you. You didn’t know they put it up.
On 22 May, 18-year-old Maalia Naasunnguaq R. Skifte stood on stage at the Opera in Copenhagen and spoke about the women who, in connection with the Danish spiral campaign, had spirals removed without consent in the 60s and 70s.
She had been asked after she and approximately nine other young people in November participated in an intensive speech-writing course at GUX in Nuuk, which was organized by, among others, Talerskolen RØST.
Here they had to learn to write and give their own speeches.
– I learned to focus on the consonants and take breaks at the right times, says Maalia Skifte.
Two of the other students on the course gave their speech at this year’s Future Greenland in Nuuk last month. A business conference that this year ended up attracting an extraordinary amount of attention. Especially because Trump’s special envoy, Jeff Landry, was on the guest list.
Maalia Skifte ended up being selected to come to Copenhagen and give her speech together with a number of other young speakers from Denmark and one from Ukraine. In a hall in front of 1700 people.
– It was absolutely insane, she says, when Sermitsiaq subsequently meets her at home in Nuuk.
Before she became part of the speech writing process in the autumn, Maalia Skifte had last given a speech at her confirmation. But this time it wasn’t about saying thank you for the confirmation gifts or praising his family.
A woman had an IUD installed in 1968. In 1970 it fell out by accident in the shower. Under any other circumstances, I would not be standing here today, in front of you.
Not just a chapter in the history books
When Mette Frederiksen as Prime Minister stood in Katuaq in front of several hundred women last year and apologized on behalf of Denmark for the spiral campaign, Maalia Skifte sat in the restaurant Kylling & Co in Nuuk and watched live from her phone.
What was happening on the mobile screen in front of her was important. Historic.
– I think it was very touching to see the older women being touched, because it means a lot with such recognition. I think it was appropriate, says Maalia Skifte.
Earlier this year, she found out that someone close to her was one of the 4,500 or so women who had an IUD fitted in the 60s. From that moment Maalia Skifte became even more invested in the case.
The replacement feels a bit like a plaster on a broken arm. That’s really how I feel about it. But there isn’t much else to do either
Before that, the spiral case was mostly just another dark chapter in the history books.
– When I first started reading about it and talking to my friends about it, I got really angry and repulsed, she says.
– But the spiral campaign has also just become a part of everything that once happened. We can’t really do anything about it, she says and continues:
– When I then found out that the woman I knew had been exposed to this, it started to fill more.
When the public speaking course began last November, and Maalia Skifte was looking for a topic to write a speech on, she first thought that she would write about being half European and half Greenlandic.
– But I think that was a bit too boring, and when I thought about it, I decided to give a speech about the spiral campaign, she says.
She called someone she knows who had an IUD inserted without consent and asked if it was okay for her to use her story in the speech.
– At first she said no, but in the end she said ok, says Maalia Skifte.
She wrote and trained and practiced her consonants and gave her first speech in front of her high school friends in Nuuk.
The following month, in December, while she was sitting in a history class, an email ticked into her inbox.
Do you want to join RØST in the Opera on 22 May 2026?, stood there.
– I ran out and called my mother and shouted that I had to give a speech in the Opera, Maalia Skifte tells.
A moving experience
– I wasn’t there myself, but I can hear the Danish doctor speaking a language I don’t know, I am blinded by the bright light, I can feel the cold instruments in my abdomen, I can feel the loss.
Maalia Skifte is used to standing on a stage and playing music, usually with other musicians. Therefore, it was not entirely unusual for her to have to stand on a stage in front of an audience.
Still, it felt different to stand on the big stage in the Opera alone at a lectern and with some papers in hand. Maalia Skifte was surrounded by balconies and blinded by bright lights that meant she could only see the first four rows in front of her.
– The opera is so huge. It was actually somewhat reassuring that I couldn’t see that far, she says.
She was anxious to see how the hall would receive her speech.
– It’s a bit of a heavy subject, and I could tell that it was a different audience than if I had given the speech at home. Of course, most people have heard of the spiral campaign, but it was not something that was super close to them, she says.
When Maalia Skifte had delivered the last words on her speech paper, she made eye contact with her mother, who was sitting in the hall.
Maalia Skifte got a lump in her throat.
As soon as she got out from behind the stage, she started sobbing. When the speeches from the many other young people had been given and the event was over, she embraced her mother – and everyone she knew who had come to see the speech.
– My best friend from secondary school had come all the way to Copenhagen from Silkeborg to hear my speech, says Maalia Skifte.
Several of the other speakers also came over afterwards and patted Maalia Skifte on the shoulder.
– It was cool. They gave such good speeches themselves, and to receive praise from them was really a great recognition, she says and smiles.
– I am megaproud of my speech. It’s fucking nice.
– I expect justice
– Violation is not a big enough word to describe the loss for us. The consequences are lasting, and leave an imprint on countless generations, both those who made it against all odds and those who never did.
Maalia Skifte was born in 2008, 61 years after the spiral campaign was initiated. She hopes that generations after her will still stand up and talk about the women who had IUDs installed by Danish doctors in the 60s and 70s.
– I hope so. Because it is something that needs to be talked about, she says.
For the victims of the spiral case, to whom Maalia Skifte dedicated her speech, there are also still some ends to be met.
Among other things, the compensation of DKK 300,000, which the Danish state announced back in December that the victims of the spiral case can be paid, is still missing.
Recently Patient Reimbursement informed Danmarks Radiothat a special travel team during the autumn will help the women apply for compensation.
In addition, the translation of the reports of the expert investigation initiated by Naalakkersuisut in 2024, which delves into the human rights aspects of the spiral case, drags on.
The reports should have been published in May, but have temporarily been delayed until August.
– How have you experienced the whole process surrounding the spiral case – the apology, the compensation and the expert investigation?
– The replacement feels a bit like a plaster on a broken arm, replies Maalia Skifte and thus repeats the words she performed in the Opera on 22 May.
– That’s really how I feel about it. But there isn’t much else to do either. It is not enough, but there is nothing else to do.
– Do you have any expectations for the expert examination?
– I expect justice for the Greenlandic women. Because there is no place where this is ok.
