Druggies paid to get sterilized
Karen Roessing
The Daily Aztec
SAN DIEGO, Calif.
Drug abuse and the protection of a woman's right to do what she chooses with her body are two separate topics that are not usually related. But in recent months, issues have surfaced that closely link drug abuse with the reproductive rights of women.
Last week, 60 Minutes II aired a show about a new program named CRACK, (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) which offers an alternative for women on drugs. CRACK gives women with substance abuse problems an alternate option to taking pills or using condoms. CRACK will pay women $200 if they agree to either long-term birth control or sterilization through tubal ligations. And the reason behind these procedures? Women who do drugs will no longer have unwanted pregnancies or the option to give birth to children with defects resulting from their mothers' addictions.
Women who support this program justify their actions with the response that, "until you have adopted children that have siblings who have died from their mother's continual drug use during pregnancy, or a child who was born premature and ditched behind a dumpster, you have no right to judge us."
After seeing the effects of a mother's drug abuse on her newborn child, one could understand CRACK's concern. Barbara Harris, the program's founder, has adopted four children — all victims born from the same drug-addicted mother.
Although this program keeps drug users from getting pregnant, is it ethical to offer $200 to women who are on the streets and need money for their next fix? To people who are perpetually focused on their next high, $200 is a lot of money. It doesn't seem fair to offer a woman, in this state of mind, money that could forever remove her chance to reproduce. This suggests that CRACK simply writes off these women as addicts that will never seek treatment.
A young woman, say 21, might choose this procedure simply for the money — to help herself get off the street for a night and get high. Should we generalize her along with all the other addicts, stereotyping her as a life-long drug user? Well, not all addicts use for life, and if a woman decides to get cleaned up, she might choose to have a normal life, get married and have a family. Women on drugs should not be preyed upon by a program that has a personal crusade against women who use drugs while pregnant.
Scarlett Taylor, 24, is one of these young women who chose to go with CRACK's program. She is a mother of a 6-month-old daughter and is a former heroin addict. Taylor's motivation for the procedure: money. She used the $200 to help pay for her college application fee. Taylor has also made $250 from the five women she has referred to the program.
According to an April 2000 statistic, of the 188 women who have chosen to take CRACK's $200 payment, 102 have chosen sterilization. Flyers presenting this medical option to women with drug abuse problems have appeared in clinics all over California. Soon this program could be offered to women in San Diego clinics. This reality is not too far off, since Barbara Harris founded the program in California, and Los Angeles, only miles away from us, has CRACK's biggest customer base.
This article first appeared in the March 21, 2001 issue of San Diego State's daily paper, The Daily Aztec, and is reprinted here courtesy of U-Wire.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, March 22, 2001
