© 2024 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Birth control advocate pays addicts to get surgical procedures to prevent sick babies

R.Benk
/
WFSU

A non-profit organization is traveling coast to coast paying drug addicts and alcoholics $300 in exchange for them to get permanent birth control through surgeries. Ryan Benk reports the project’s mission is to make sure babies are not born addicted to drugs or infected with sexually transmitted diseases.

Barbara Harris has made it her mission to ensure that all babies have a chance at a healthy, loving life. She believes in this mission so much that she’s willing to pay addicts and alcoholics to get permanent birth control.  But, this mission hasn’t been without its share of controversy. She was standing in front of her RV in the rain in   downtown Tallahassee and had only been in Florida for 10 minutes before she was surrounded by people calling her a racist and accusing her of “population control”.

“In the very beginning I ['ve been called] was a racist, I’ve been Hitler, I’ve been many things. But, this is not about race; it’s never been about race. People give me way too much credit. My husband is actually black and we have ten children who are black or bi-racial,” she said.

Beyond her work in the community at large, Harris and her husband have adopted four children born addicted to drugs. She says her children are what brought her to this mission.