By Jon Swaine
Joanne was addicted to Crystal Meth when she got pregnant. She tried to give it up, but failed, and gave birth to twins who tested positive for the drug. The babies are now much more likely to develop learning difficulties, intestinal problems and skeletal defects. They were taken away by social services.
Joanne was put in touch with Project Prevention. In a brutal transaction, the group offers drug-addicted men and women hundreds of pounds in cash in return for being sterilised. The charity, founded 13 years ago by Barbara Harris, a mother of 10 from North Carolina, has since paid about 3,500 people to surrender their fertility permanently or for the long term.
Joanne was put in touch with Project Prevention. In a brutal transaction, the group offers drug-addicted men and women hundreds of pounds in cash in return for being sterilised. The charity, founded 13 years ago by Barbara Harris, a mother of 10 from North Carolina, has since paid about 3,500 people to surrender their fertility permanently or for the long term.
Mrs Harris and her husband, Smitty, started the group after fostering four children from a crack-addicted mother in Los Angeles. They claim that the last 20 women who chose to be sterilised under their scheme had been pregnant 121 times between them, and had 78 children in foster care. Their system raises fundamental questions about people’s right to have children.
Mrs Harris has said: “We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children.”
Mrs Harris has said: “We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children.”
Her group is now offering its services in Britain, where each year more than 1,200 babies are born addicted to drugs.
A 38-year-old heroin addict, identified only as John, has become the group’s first British customer, receiving £200. John explains his decision simply and powerfully. “I won’t be able to support a kid - I can just about manage to support myself,” he said. “I should never be a father.”
However, Martin Barnes, the chief executive of DrugScope, describes their scheme as “exploitative, ethically dubious and morally questionable.”
'’Who would be targeted next,” asked Mr Barnes. “People who smoke, have mental health problems, or live in poverty?”
Yet Mrs Harris is unrepentant. “I’ll do anything I have to do to prevent babies from suffering,” Mrs Harris said. “I’ve been called everything. I’ve been spat on. My heart is with the children. I don’t believe that anybody has the right to force their addiction on another human being.”
