NOT on her web site

Barbara Harris has been criticized for comparing the drug-addicted women Project Prevention targets to animals.
She states, "I'm not saying these women are dogs, but they're not acting any more responsible than a dog in heat."
She has also stated: "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."

In other contexts, she again compared drug addicted women to animals, stating,
"They're having litters. They are literally having litters. We campaign to neuter dogs and yet we allow women to have 10 or 12 kids that they can't take care of and we have campaigns to spay cats to prevent them from having unwanted kittens, yet we allow these women to have litters of 14 children."

As I pointed out in my post of 18 Oct 10 - 12:28 PM this stereotype is simply false but it is central to her campaign and fund raising (she frequenrly repeats the example of the woman who had 13 children taken from her as a result of her addiction to drugs)

The major donor in the US is Richard Mellon Scaife an American newspaper publisher and billionaire known for his financial support of conservative and right-wing public policy organizations over the past two decades. He has provided support for conservative and libertarian causes in the U.S., mostly through the private, nonprofit foundations he controls.

Harris readily admits that any money her clients gain through Project Prevention is probably spent on drugs, but she firmly believes that investing in rehabilitation and prevention programs is NOT the answer describing drug treatment as 'just a gamble you know'.

With all Project Prevention's fund raising and right wing financial support, they give nothing to rehab treatment or housing programs where they recruit.

They totally ignore the fact that if a woman is a drug user and in poverty, then she's also more likely to be homeless and at greater risk of rape.

Project prevention selectively offered Norplant and tubal ligation; neither of these offer any protection for drug dependent women against STDs; barrier methods and methods which protect against HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases are not offered but then it is fairly obvious from her remarks she regards them as no better than animals anyways

The full financial incentive, or bribe, was offered to women who agreed to sterilization or long-term birth control however you only got the full amount immediately if you had your tubes tied or got a Norplant implant and in installments over one year if you went with Depo-Proverb - side effects include hair loss, delayed return to fertility, nausea, osteoporosis, depression, and increased risk of cervical and breast cancer -or Lunelle.
It's not rocket science to work out that more poor women were going to go for the immediate 'reward' and did! (more than one third have been sterilized)

[Norplant is made up of six silicone capsules filled with the synthetic hormone levonorgestral, which are implanted just under the skin of a woman's upper arm. Once inserted Norplant prevented pregnancy for up to five years.
Only two days after Federal approval of Norplant, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an editorial entitled, "Poverty and Norplant: Can Contraception Reduce the Underclass?" Many problems have been reported with this method of birth control including medical side effects and scarring as a result it is no longer available in the US]


Barbara Harris failed to persuade California State legislature to criminalize women who use illicit drugs while pregnant a draft Bill to this effect never became law. She wanted legislation to make long-term contraception mandatory for women who had children that were substance-exposed in the womb since the State would not take action, she decided to do so herself
If such a law had been passed, women with drug problems who became pregnant would have become a hidden population afraid to access prenatal services or drug treatment centres

Project Prevention still advocates legislation to make "prenatal crimes" punishable by jail and sterilization.