Philadelphia Inquirer Profiles Program That Offers Money to Drug Users Who Agree to Long-Term Birth Control

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday profiled the not-for-profit, North Carolina-based organization... Project Prevention -- formerly known as Children Requiring A Caring Community -- which offers $200 cash to any woman with a proven drug or alcohol problem who agrees to be sterilized or use long-term birth control (Couloumbis, Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/10). The program, which began in 1997, gives a one-time payment of $200 to women who undergo sterilization procedures and an annual payment of $200 to women who take Depo-Provera as long as they continue receiving the injections. Participants also can receive an additional $50 for each person they successfully refer to the program. Although most individuals who inquire about the program are enrolled in Medicaid, which covers the cost of sterilization or long-term contraception, Project Prevention will pay for contraception or sterilization for people interested in the program who are ineligible for Medicaid. The organization is funded mainly through donations and uses volunteers and advertisements to spread the word about the program (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 9/10/03). The group -- which has visited about 30 cities to promote the program -- has been called "radical and inhumane," with some critics saying the money the group gives to the women should instead be used to treat drug addiction, the Inquirer reports. However, Barbara Harris, who founded Project Prevention in the late 1990s, said the group's method works to reduce the number of U.S. infants who are born addicted to drugs or alcohol and often have severe medical and emotional problems. Nearly 1,600 women have participated in Project Prevention since its inception, according to the group (Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/10).


Philadelphia Inquirer


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