GROUP PAYS DRUG ADDICTS $200 TO STOP HAVING KIDS

Angela Balls gave birth to five children while addicted to heroin, cocaine
and other drugs.

One child was stillborn. Another has severe behavior problems, which she
blames on the drugs.

Now, a controversial private agency is paying Balls to stop having babies.

Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity (CRACK) is giving alcoholics and drug
addicts $200 to be sterilized or take long-term birth control. Its founders
reason that children of substance abusers are at higher risk for health or
developmental problems and often are so neglected they wind up in foster care.

The agency, funded by private donations, operates in Chicago and 23 other
cities. It pays women to have tubal-ligation sterilizations or to use
long-term birth control such as intrauterine devices (IUDs), Norplant,
Depo-Provera and Lunelle. Norplant capsules, implanted under the skin,
prevent pregnancy for five years. Lunelle is a monthly shot, and
Depo-Provera shots are given every three months.

Clients must show proof of alcoholism or drug addiction, such as arrest
records or participation in treatment programs. So far, the agency has paid
659 women and 15 men, who had vasectomies. Before going on birth control,
the women had 1,069 abortions and 2,310 children, an average of 3.5
children per client, agency founder Barbara Harris said.

Critics say the organization stigmatizes substance abusers.

"When you suggest that a particular group of people are not worthy of
reproducing, you risk sending a message that those people are not worthy of
being regarded as fully human," said Lynn Paltrow of the National Advocates
for Pregnant Women.

Steve Trombley of Planned Parenthood Chicago Area said, "Offering them cash
bribes is simply wrong. It does not foster the long-term sense of
responsibility needed to lead to responsible family planning."

The agency outraged critics with a recent informational mailing to
methadone clinics suggesting that women who are on the drug, which is used
to treat heroin addicts, shouldn't have babies.

Taking methadone during pregnancy doesn't harm the fetus, and the baby can
be treated quickly for any withdrawal symptoms, the American Association
for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence wrote in a letter to the
organization. "There is no basis whatever for concluding that patients for
whom methadone is prescribed should refrain from getting pregnant," the
letter said.

Clients receive a one-time payment of $200 for sterilization. For long-term
birth control users, the payments vary. Clients also must present
verification from doctors.

Balls, 34, is being paid to take Depo-Provera. She has been on birth
control--and off drugs--for 13 months. She uses the payments to buy
household supplies, but said she would be on birth control even without the
cash incentive.

"Having a kid now is not in my plans," said Balls, who is living at a South
Side treatment center. "I'm not ready to take on that extra responsibility."