[1] Between June 2009 and March 2011, Abelsen held the position of the Minister for Social Affairs in the Government of Greenland.
[2] Abelsen was born in 1976 in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and resides there with two children and a husband.
Abelsen holds a Master of Policy and Applied Social Science (Macquarie University, Sydney), Cand.Scient.Soc.
[citation needed][2] She was previously employed at the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHCR - Geneva), the Department of Foreign Affairs in Nuuk, the Center for Documentation on Youth and Children (MIPI - MIO).
Abelsen is a board member of United Nations Indigenous Peoples Partnership Programme.