Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jul 2003
Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC)
Copyright: 2003 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Contact:  http://www.goupstate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/977
Author: Associated Press

CRACK MOVES BASE TO CHARLOTTE

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A controversial program that offers cash payments to
addicts who obtain long-term birth control is relocating to the Charlotte
suburb of Harrisburg.

Barbara Harris started CRACK -- Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity --
after she and her husband adopted four of eight children born to a Los
Angeles crack addict.

Since 1997, about 1,000 women and 24 men have taken Harris up on her offer
to pay $200 to any addict who got sterilized or used long-term birth
control.

The group advertises nationally through brochures, billboards and a Web
site.

Harris and her husband recently moved to the Charlotte area from California
to be closer to relatives in High Point, so CRACK's national headquarters
also is relocating.

Harris, 50, a white high school dropout whose father threw her out when she
gave birth to a black child out of wedlock, said her program tries to
prevent child abuse.

"Women are allowed to drop off as many damaged babies at the local hospital
as they can drop off," she said. "They don't even have to stick around to
watch the children suffer.

"For them to get on birth control is positive, even if it takes a cash
incentive. This is voluntary. The women come to us."

Her program is viewed with skepticism by critics, including some advocates
for women's rights who say Harris unfairly targets low-income black women
and perpetuates a stereotype that they have too many children and cause many
of society's problems.

"What she is doing is perfectly legal and entirely unethical," said Angela
Holder, a lawyer and ethics professor at Duke University's Center for the
Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the New York-based National Advocates
for Pregnant Women, believes CRACK focuses too much attention on addicted
women, diverting attention from the lack of drug treatment programs and
health care.

"(It) makes it appear that society's problems are the fault of certain
women," Paltrow said. "It's very emotional and very persuasive, but it
prevents rational discussion of what is causing the harm."

Harris said she doesn't target low-income women, but "wealthy drug addicts
wouldn't be interested in our offer."

She said she pays alcoholics as well as cocaine addicts, and doesn't care
what color they are. Of CRACK's clients, 498 have been white, 341 black and
the rest other races.

Harris said people who call her a racist "don't know anything about me. I'm
the only white person in my house."

Her husband, his three sons from a previous marriage, her son from another
relationship, their two biological sons, and their four adopted children --
Destiny, Isiah, Taylor and Terrell -- are black children.

Of her clients, 416 women have had tubal ligations, 407 took Depo-Provera
injections in three-month doses, 130 chose intrauterine devices, and 37 got
Norplant before it was withdrawn from the market last year. Twenty-four men
had vasectomies.

The money is donated. The first $400 came from a lawyer friend. More poured
in after Harris received national media attention, including plugs by
conservative radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

Harris said drug treatment is not the solution to the problems that CRACK is
addressing. "It's not the women who are the victims," she said. "It's the
children."
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