CRACK ADDICTS OFFERED 'BRIBE' TO BE STERILISED

A U.S. Charity is offering $200 cash payments for drug-addicted women to
be permanently sterilised or consent to long-term contraception.

The offer, on billboards in California, Florida, Nevada, Illinois and
Minnesota, is by the charity Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity
(CRACK).

The controversial organisation - which has been attacked by civil
rights groups - says it aims to 'offer aggressive preventative
measures in regard to destructive drug pregnancies'.

Typically, women who have been sterilised have no health insurance,
and come from poor backgrounds. Most have been, or still are, addicted
to crack cocaine.

Individuals arrange and pay for the procedure themselves, then have a
form provided by CRACK signed by a doctor. They are then eligible to
receive the $200 payment.

One long-term contraceptive option pushed by CRACK is Norplant:
hormone-releasing capsules, inserted under the skin. Due to side effects
such as vaginal bleeding and nausea, Norplant is banned in Britain.

'About 75 per cent of the women choose tubal ligation
(sterilisation),' said Lin Alvarez, the assistant director of CRACK.
'These addicts really don't want children.'

Respondents so far have all been women addicted to drugs, usually to
crack cocaine. Men who agree to a vasectomy may also claim the $200.
CRACK say 51 women have so far been sterilised in five states. Twenty
others have taken Norplant, Depo-Provera, or an intra-uterine device.

The CRACK programme, funded by private donations, has so far paid
addicts $13,800. The tax-deductible contributions range from $5 to
$3,000, and due to recent publicity, the programme has raised more
than $150,000.

The scheme is the brainchild of Barbara Harris, 48, a Californian
housewife who has fostered four children born to a crack-addicted
mother. She also wrote legislation attempting to criminalise
drug-addicted women who decided to have children. When Bill 2614
failed to pass in the Californian Assembly, Harris began promoting
'cash for contraception'.

Harris claims cash is the best way to influence addicts. 'I guess some
of the women use it for drugs. That's not my concern,' she says. 'So
many babies born to drug-addicted women do not survive.

'These women are not getting pregnant because they love children, but
because they're totally irresponsible. It's sad that they are on
drugs, but... our programme is not about the women. It's about the
children.'

The American Civil Liberties Union called the programme 'morally
bankrupt'.

'Barbara Harris wants to remove the right for these women to bear
children because she doesn't approve of their behaviour,' said Michael
Fleming, its California spokesman. 'Her policy is coercive. The $200
is a bribe.'