PROTESTERS TEAR DOWN ADDICT BIRTH CONTROL AD

OAKLAND -- A boldly worded billboard offering drug addicts cash to get
sterilized or to go on long-term birth control went up Tuesday, only
to be ripped to shreds by angry protesters before the paste was dry.

The billboard, reading ``If You Are Addicted To Drugs -- Get birth
control -- Get $200 cash,'' was the first of its kind in the Bay Area.
Two more are planned for Oakland and one for Richmond, as part of a
national campaign by an Orange County woman to prevent mothers from
giving birth to crack-addicted babies.

However, reaction against the signs in Oakland is so strong that plans
to put up more have been halted for at least a couple of days.

The protest reflects the controversy sparked by Anaheim mother Barbara
Harris, who brought her program to the Bay Area after a local
businessman offered to pay for the billboards.

``This is just the right wing saying again that everybody who is poor
is on crack and needs to be on birth control,'' said Carolyn Milligan,
an activist with the Economic Human Rights Campaign, which hastily
assembled the protesters. ``Miss Right thought she could come into one
of the poorest areas of our city and sneak out of town. They think
this is fixing the poor, but we don't need fixing.''

Harris, who has adopted four crack-addicted babies born to the same
mother, denies that she targets poor communities and says she is just
thinking of the children.

``These women are going to do drugs,'' she said. ``That's their
biggest goal and ambition. People need to understand that these women
are going to do what they are going to do.''

Started in 1997

Harris started Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, or CRACK, in
1997 and has advertised her unusual offer in Chicago, Fresno,
Sacramento, Los Angeles and other cities. Other billboards are up or
are to go up this month in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

So far, 85 women have taken Harris up on her offer. Most have gotten
their tubes tied. Others chose intrauterine devices or Norplant
birth-control implants in exchange for the cash, which they may spend
as they please.

Harris does not pay for the procedure, but she tells clients where to
find free birth control, such as Planned Parenthood. The offer is open
to both sexes, but no men have accepted it so far, she said.

The program has garnered support from some national media figures.
Leeza Gibbons featured Harris on a show earlier this month, and she's
also received $10,000 in donations from conservative radio advice-show
personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

But others accuse Harris of targeting the poor and minority
communities. Harris, who is white and married to a black man, is quick
to point out that most of the women who took up her offer -- 36 -- are
white. Fifteen are Hispanic and 35 are African-American.

The program also has been attacked by women's advocates, who say it
fails to take into account the vulnerability of drug-addicted women.
Bay Area social workers said women desperate for cash might act
hastily in grabbing the offer, but could regret their sterility later
during sober times.

``No one likes to see babies addicted to drugs,'' said Mitzi Sales, a vice
president at Planned Parenthood: Shasta-Diablo,
which serves Contra Costa, Solano, Napa and other
counties.

``But coerced sterilization isn't the answer to a big public
health problem like substance abuse.

Our staff is trained to give women options about contraception and
sterility, and to take all the necessary steps to ensure their choice is in
fact voluntary.''

She said Planned Parenthood offices in the region provide prenatal
care to substance abusers in the hope that they can give birth to
healthy children.

However, Harris doesn't hide her lack of sympathy for the rights of
crack-addicted mothers at the possible expense of their babies.

``I'm so sick of hearing of the rights of these women,'' she said.
``All this about what if they want more kids later on? It's not worth
the chance.''

And while many Oakland social workers were reluctant to talk freely
about their opinions on the controversy, some privately welcomed her
billboard campaign.

Some applaud action

One social worker, who asked that her name not be used for fear of
retribution, said she works with pregnant drug addicts and has seen
scores of children born with severe medical problems. The babies
require 24-hour care that costs taxpayers millions of dollars, she
said.

``It's frustrating because I see the same women coming back year after
year with baby after baby,'' the social worker said. ``These babies
are addicted to drugs or they can't survive on their own, and it takes
$25,000 a day to keep them alive. Then if the child survives they grow
up angry and bitter and they're in and out of foster care. I'm glad
someone finally had the guts to come out with something like this. The
only thing is, $200 may not be enough incentive.''

Harris has said she kept the offer amount modest to avoid accusations
of coercing women into birth control.

The Oakland sites for the billboards are East 14th Street and 55th
Avenue, Foothill Boulevard and Havens Court, and West Grand Avenue
and Market Street. In Richmond, the billboard offer will appear on
Cutting Boulevard near Marina Way.