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BIRTH CONTROL FOR DRUG ADDICTS

CHICAGO -- Drug-addicted women are being offered $200 to be sterilized or to
use long-term birth control under a controversial program that is gaining
momentum in several cities across the country.

"IF YOU ARE ADDICTED TO DRUGS get birth control -- get $200 cash. Stop the
cycle of addicted newborns now!" read two billboards in Chicago, where
social worker Lyle Keller is trying to establish CRACK, Children Requiring a
Caring Kommunity.

Critics have called the Anaheim, Calif.-based program shortsighted, racist
and a source of drug money for users. But founder Barbara Harris calls it a
response to a system that often fails to punish women who give birth to
drug-addicted babies.

To get the cash, women must have a doctor-signed form detailing the type of
birth control they use. CRACK does not pay for the procedures -- insertion
of Norplant capsules or an intrauterine device, or tube-tying, which is more
controversial because it is not always reversible -- but Harris said
state-funded health care programs often cover them.

Since 1994, CRACK has paid 57 California women who had given birth a total
of 262 times. The program is catching on in Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas and
Fort Pierce, Fla.

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