Sterilisation sold to addicts by US Charity

[skydancer1]

What do people think of this? On the one hand I think it's hatefully manipulative as a serious addict might easily do this for 200 quid and then regret it for life, on the other hand many kids suffer physically and mentally from being the children of addicts...I'd like to read more opinion on it.

There was a thread on this recently. Can't remember title or link it. There was a link to an article too.

This is a double edged sword. My cousin in Switzerland was a hopeless heroin addict for many years in her youth. However, 25 years on she is clean (and has been for 25 years) and is the mother of three children one who she has adopted. Her children have had a fabulous upbringing.

I have also worked with drug users as a HV some of whom have been fabulous parents. Many have NOT been though as they often do not see the wider risks involved with their lifestyle/people they associate with etc.

I am not in favour of sterilization - why not an implant contaceptive which would last a few years but which can be removed if the person wishes?

Sterilisation is one option being offered by the charity. Implants and other forms of reversible contraception are also on offer.

The offer is less attractive to UK addicts, I would suggest, because sterlisation, vasectomies and contraception are freely accessible on the NHS.

But, in principle, I think if people with very messed up lives can be encouraged not to add children to the picture, that's a good thing.

So not as black and white as the news people would have us believe then Chil?

Personally, it doesn't sit well with me.

Was the linked article in the Guardian? My DM and DS had read it, and were very pro the whole thing.

Encouraging addicts to be sterilized is one thing, but paying them is another, IMO.

It's a good point about sterilization being less easily available in other countries. I have nothing against it being provided for free.

Newspapers like a bit of drama... No-one so far has offered the 'if you give them money they'll just spend it on money drugs' argument. The charity founder responds to that with the observation that our efforts at the moment are on getting people 'clean' but that this takes time, during which many innocent children can be born into a misery that is not of their own making. She is a remarkable woman that has adopted three or four babies - all from the same addict - all of whom experienced appalling withdrawal symptoms at just a few weeks old.

"Encouraging addicts to be sterilized is one thing, but paying them is another, IMO. "

But what price a child's life? If a few hundred quid means that another poor mite doesn't arrive in this world screaming in terror and pain from the effects of its mother's drug abuse, neglected, in danger and most probably taken into care with all that implies... is that so morally indefensible?

A friend of mine adopted 2 boys from a heroin addict mother. She'd had 6 and afaik was still having them They are scarred for life. I think I agree with it for heroin addicts but only from having personal experience and knowing those boys are affected for life.

I don't like it. At all. It concentrating far too much on a child that may or may not be concieved and may or may not be neglected and is giving no consideration to an actual living person who needs help and support.

I know a recovered addict who would make a great father one day. I see him with his neice and he is amazing with her. I also know that during his darkest time he would have taken up this offer to get his hands on the cash. I don't think he would have been able to recover from his addiction if he made a choice like that when he was desperate for cash and then realised the full implications afterwards.

£200 could do so much more to help an addict recover.

I know many of his friends did well with a sort of implant that prevents them from feeling the effects of herion (or something, not sure exactly what it is but it worked for all three who could afford it) ergo making it a pointless waste of money. Why not spend the money on something like that instead?

@Riven... a drug addict is making life-changing decisions that they will regret for ever on a daily basis - whether they appreciate it or not. Bearing children as an addict is often not even a decision but an accident and this time the life being changed for ever is not their own. As I said before, one of the options on offer is reversible contraception.

It's sad if anyone, for whatever reason, opts for sterilisation and then has a change of heart. But I think a few regretful ex-addicts is a good trade-off for the many damaged children that will be prevented

i think it is awful, the people are vunerable and probably not thinking long term.
also wonder who will be next,
I think more help should be given to the person already here

"A young addict could make a life changing decision "

They did that when they chose to become an addict. The idea that the interests of children are less important than those of the addict is shameful. Becoming a drug addict is a choice. It may be made quickly, ignorantly and without all the thought that is required, but it's entirely voluntary. Being born to abusive drug-addicted parents isn't a choice. The children come first, second, third and fourth.

Why should an unborn, unconceived child have more importance than someone's son or daughter?

To me living, breathing people who are somebody's child come first, second, third and fourth. Not a small group of cells yet to be conceived.

The people who take this money may never become pregnant while they are an addcit. They might recover, meet a nice partner, get a job and a morgate and have to live with the fact that because of one stupid mistake, made whilst high and desperate they can never have children of their own.

oh the idea that people "choose" to be addicts.

What I don't like about this is that it is assuming that addicts, at the height (or depths?) of their addiction, cannot be reformed and turn their lives around. We know that that's not true.

I agree with those that have said it is preying on vulnerable people, encouraging them to make a decision that cannot be reversed and that they may regret for the rest of their lives.

I absolutely agree that addicts don't make good parents, and long-term contraception sounds like a sensible option, but steralisation is permanent, no going back.

The charity would do better to support and encourage addicts to get clean and to have a responsible attitude towards their sexual activity.

D

I am dead against it. Smacks of eugenics. Once started, where will this stop? Where do you draw the line?

Addicts may not be in their right minds when they make this choice, but hey, they're addicts... and of course, this mentally handicapped woman isn't in her right mind so let's have her too ... well, we did that lot so let's look at people with mental illness ... oh look, let's sterilise all those people over there, drain on society, spoil things for the rest of us, nicotine's awful, we'll sterilise smokers, there's precedent after all ... obesity's a problem isn't it, that lot aren't living well, their kids aren't being fed healthily either blah blah blah

2shoes, do you mean you don't any one who has woken up of a morning and though "I'm a bit bored. I might go out and get some smack, become addicted and throw the next 5/10/15/20 years of my life away. Possible even die. I will steal from loved ones and do unthinkable things to get money to pay for my habit and if I ever recover I will spend the rest of my life living with the stigma of having been an addict and probably never have the chance of having a career or decent job"?

People who think anyone would chose that are eejits imo.

Oh, and similar to 2shoeprints on the idea that people choose to be addicts.

Strange then, that I know of no little girl or boy, and I suspect neither does anybody else, who says that when they grow up they want to be a drug addict.

I would think the number of people who make an active/conscious decision to become an addict must be virtually nil.

D

I agree with Jux.

Start of a slippery slope.

I agree with Jux. Where do you draw the line. Why focus on drug-takers. Some people are in absolutely the wrong position, financially/emotionally etc to bring a life into the world and yet they are not being targetted.

I agree that drug users don't choose to be addicts. But they do (in the vast majority of cases) choose to take drugs that they know are addictive. They just tell themselves that it's not going to happen to them.

So while they may not choose to be an addict they are choosing a course of action that is likely to end up with them being an addict.

It would be more controversial if anyone was being forced into this course of action. However, it is a voluntary process and it may prove to be the most responsible thing an addict does. Reversible contraception, can I remind everyone, is an option.

@Hammy02... people who are financially/emotionally etc., in the wrong position to have children have full access to NHS contraception and sterilisation services entirely for free. Drug addicts have been selected to receive the cash incentive because the charity's founder has first-hand experience of how damaged babies of addicts are.

Snorbs they do chose to take addictive substances, but it's usually when they are young and invincible. They are not going to become addicted because they will only try it once. And then after that once they are not going to become addicted because they didn't last time and they don't do it every day etc.

And a lot of the people I know didn't neccessarily know what exactly it was they were taking. Or how addictive it was. They have probably seen friends try it just the once or twice and not become addicted. Not everyone who tries Herion or Crack become addicted straight away. Or even ever.

What saddens me most is the attitude that people seem to have about drug users. The 'oh they don't really matter. They're just an addict' or 'Well they're users, they're scum'

That addict/user is some ones child/brother/sister/aunt/uncle. They are important and deserving of help. Pressuring them or paying them to be sterilised is wrong on so many levels. As is putting the needs of a child who may never be conceieved above the needs of that person who is in desperate need of help.

Any one of our children could make that one stupid, ill thought out choice and become an addict. It happens to children from all walks of life, not just the 'bad'uns'. Remember that next time you are jumping on band wagon and calling for them all to be sterilised. It could be your child.

But Chil it is co-ercing them into making a descion they would never consider under other circumstances using money, something which most addicts are desperate for.

By all means point it out as an option and give them the op for free, but using money to encourage them is wrong.