BIRTH CONTROL OFFERED TO ADDICTED WOMEN

CHICAGO -- A privately funded program making its way across the country
pays $200 to drug-addicted women to get their tubes tied or use some other
long-term means of birth control.

The California-based program has drawn the wrath of critics who call it
short-sighted, racist and a source of drug money for users.

But Barbara Harris of Anaheim, Calif. -- founder of CRACK, for Children
Requiring a Caring Kommunity -- says this is a response to a system that
often fails to punish women who give birth to drug-addicted babies.

"I can't believe that these women are able to stop by the local hospital
yearly, drop off a damaged baby and walk away," Ms. Harris, who has adopted
four children born with cocaine in their systems, said Friday.

CRACK gets funding from private donations. Among Ms. Harris' financial
backers is Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the tough-talking radio host who pushes
personal responsibility.

Since 1994, Ms. Harris said, CRACK has paid $200 each to 57 California
women who had given birth a total of 262 times. She said some men have
inquired about vasectomies but never followed through.

Now the program is catching on in Chicago, Minneapolis, Fort Pierce, Fla.,
and Dallas.

Among the acceptable forms of long-term birth control are Norplant, which
are capsules that are inserted under the skin in the upper arm, and the
IUD, or intrauterinve device. Tube-tying is the most controversial method
because it is not always reversible.

CRACK does not pay for the procedures, though those are often covered by
state-funded health-care programs, Ms. Harris said.

Lyle Keller, a Chicago social worker, is trying to get CRACK going in
Chicago, using his own money to advertise the campaign with fliers and
billboards. So far, he said, he has gotten responses from two women.

"IF YOU ARE ADDICTED TO DRUGS get birth control -- get $200 cash," read the
two billboards, which went up earlier this month in poorer neighborhoods.
"Stop the cycle of addicted newborns now!"

To get the cash, women must have a form signed by doctor detailing the form
of birth control they are using.

Sharon Adams is one of the California mothers who decided to have her tubes
tied -- in her case, after having her 14th child.

"I figured it was about time to do it -- and the $200 motivated it," said
Ms. Adams, 38.

Now drug-free for two years, she is working a pizza delivery driver, caring
for one of her children and trying to regain custody of two others. Four of
her children died because of complications caused by drugs, she said.

Steve Trombley, president of Planned Parenthood in Chicago, said he doubts
most addicts have the judgment to make such a big decision. "Coercing women
by bribing them with cash is not the way to go about it," he said.

Constance Jackson, president of Altgeld Health Clinic, which serves poor
patients on Chicago's South Side, questioned whether a program like CRACK
would be gaining momentum if most drug-addicted babies were white.

"Look at adoptions," Ms. Jackson said. "White babies are more precious than
platinum."

Ms. Harris, who is white, countersedthat most of the mothers who have been
paid in California are white. "Race shouldn't even be the issue," she said.
"It's about child abuse -- and black babies matter, too."

She does not deny some mothers will simply use the payment to buy drugs.
"But they're already going to find the money for drugs anyway," Ms. Harris
said. "That's one less person to rob or a few less tricks to turn."