Program Designed to Prevent Addicted Babies Arrives in Britain
Should a drug addict have the right to reproduce? If they are often under the influence of the drugs they are taking, should they be talked into sterilization? If they are paid to do so, is this an ethical issue?
According to a recent piece in the Guardian, a U.S. charity, Project Prevention, is paying drug addicts or alcoholics who could get pregnant to take the necessary steps for long-term birth control. Barbara Harris, founder of the charity, has paid 1,307 people $300 to be sterilized.
Harris believes every baby deserves to have a sober start and she doesn’t think addicts should have children. Her charity uses cash incentives to entice drug addicts to opt for long-term contraception. She has paid for the fertility of more than 3,000 American drug and alcohol addicts and now turning her focus to Britain.
Legal child abuse is what Harris uses to describe the birth of babies born in withdrawal, underweight and with serious medical problems. This is a cycle that continues to repeat itself, yet it is preventable with birth control.
While it may seem like common sense to some, there are others who have an issue with Harris’ promises of serious money in exchange for their fertility. Critics in the United States have compared Project Prevention to the eugenics program run by the Nazi party. Such comparisons don’t bother Harris, who believes ignoring the problem ignores the rights of the children.
If the program is successful in the UK, it could help address the problem of 1,200 newborns every year who are hospitalized with neonatal abstinence syndrome and thousands more born with problems related to alcohol. Of the children in the foster care program, two-thirds have parents with addiction problems. Is it better that these children never existed?
