A MONEY-FOR-BIRTH-CONTROL PROGRAM ARRIVES IN NASHVILLE

An organization that offers $200 to drug addicted men and women in
exchange for long-term birth control or sterilization has opened
operations in Nashville.

Barbara Harris, founder and director of California-based CRACK, or
Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, said the organization will
begin distributing fliers to area agencies advertising its services.
CRACK is a nonprofit organization funded by private donations.

"There's really no reason why a drug addict or an alcoholic should get
pregnant," Harris said at a Monday news conference. "And if we can
prevent that from happening by offering them $200, then it's the best
$200 that could be spent."

Under a program called Project Prevention, CRACK reimburses clients
after verifying that long-term birth control or sterilization has
taken place. If a person does not have insurance, CRACK will pay.

Harris, of Garden Grove, Calif., founded the organization after she
and her husband adopted four drug-addicted children born to the same
woman. The group paid its first two women in November 1997.

CRACK's Web site reports that 451 people - including five men - have
been paid in exchange for birth control or sterilization. Of the women
receiving service from CRACK, 193 received tubal ligations.

Harris said that while CRACK is officially established in 19 U.S.
cities, the organization receives calls daily from people in many more
locations.

"We have lots of little warriors all over the United States who are
working for our cause," Harris said.

Marsha Rosenbaum, director of the San Francisco office of the Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation and co-author of the book "Pregnant Women on
Drugs: Combatting Stereotypes and Stigma," disagrees with CRACK's approach.

"I think it (CRACK) is a shortsighted effort that actually does almost
nothing, in general, to help pregnant women who use drugs to quit,"
Rosenbaum said. "It worries me because it has the effect of coming
across to women as bribery. It's $200 for your womb basically."

Diane Denton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Health, said
the agency's provisional data for 2000 shows 16 babies born in
Tennessee with fetal drug syndrome. Only one Tennessee baby was
reported born with fetal alcohol syndrome in 2000.

Rosenbaum said she worried about racism in CRACK's methods because the
majority of the women treated by the program are women of color.

But Harris said blacks are not targeted.

"We've actually paid more white women than we have black women to get
on birth control," she said.

According to CRACK's Web site, 210 of those it has paid were
Caucasian, 173 were black, 48 were Hispanic and 20 were of other
ethnic backgrounds.

Jeff Teague, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Middle and
East Tennessee, said he is concerned about coercion.

"The basic principle that underlies Planned Parenthood is that all of
our services are voluntary," Teague said. "When you start giving money
for birth control we get concerned about people being coerced into
making decisions they wouldn't necessarily make without the enticement
of cash."

CRACK places no stipulation on how the money is used.

Rosenbaum said she advocates drug and alcohol treatment for CRACK
participants.

"I would prefer to see long-term treatment options for pregnant women
to turn their lives around permanently," Rosenbaum said.

CRACK has had advertising trouble. Billboards in Kansas City, which
stated "If you are addicted to drugs, get birth control - get $200
cash," were taken down amid scrutiny.

Harris said CRACK has found that directly contacting organizations is
proving more effective, but did not dismiss a billboard in Nashville.

"I saw a billboard last night that I thought would be perfect," Harris
said.

"To all those who oppose what we do, until they are ready to step up
and adopt the next crack baby born, their opinion means nothing to
me," she said.