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Project Prevention Brings Controversial Program That Pays Drug Addicts and/or Alcoholics $300 to be Sterilized or use Long-Term Birth Control to Maui

Posted on: Thursday, 18 December 2008, 09:00 CST

MAUI, Hawaii, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- North Carolina-based Project Prevention, which offers a cash incentive of $300 to drug addicts and/or alcoholics to receive long-term or permanent birth control, will visit Hawaii for the first time on Friday, December 19, 2008. The group will hold a press conference at 10:30AM. To date, the program has paid more than 2,500 participants responsible for over 10,000 pregnancies prior to entering the program to obtain long-term or permanent birth control.

Project Prevention was established in 1998 to address the nearly 300,000 children born each year substance exposed. Now in its tenth year, the program has at a minimum prevented more than 2,100 children from being born substance exposed. The cost of caring for those 2,100 potential lives would have exceeded $1 billion when taking into account the costs associated with caring for such children. These costs include healthcare (between $243 and $906 million annually), special education ($8.4 billion annually), and foster care ($6 billion annually).

Following the press conference founder and director Barbara Harris, who personally adopted four out of eight children to one substance abusing mother, will travel throughout the city accompanied by her adopted children. Also in attendance will be Stephanie Sanders, a program board member, who will share her compelling story about caring for medically fragile children.

Project Prevention is a national, 501(c)3 not-for-profit that offers cash incentives to women addicted to drugs and/or alcohol to use long-term or permanent birth control. The organization has paid clients in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Project Prevention's mission is to reduce the number of substance exposed births to zero- because every baby deserves a sober start! www.projectprevention.org

SOURCE Project Prevention

Source: PR Newswire

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