ADDICTS ARE PAID TO USE LONG-TERM BIRTH CONTROL

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," Harris, who has adopted four
children born with cocaine in their systems, said yesterday.

CRACK gets money from private donations. Among Harris' financial backers is
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the radio host who pushes personal responsibility.

Since 1994, Harris said, CRACK has paid $200 each to 57 California women who
had given birth a total of 262 times.

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 is
a capsule that is inserted under the skin in the upper arm, and the IUD, or
intrauterine device. Tube-tying is the most controversial method because it
is not always reversible.

CRACK does not pay for the procedures, although those are often covered by
state-funded health-care programs, 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 that went up earlier this month in poorer neighborhoods.
"Stop the cycle of addicted newborns now!"

To get the cash, a woman must have a form signed by a doctor detailing the
form of birth control she is using.

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 gain momentum if most drug-addicted babies were white.

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

Harris, who is white, countered that 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."