Cracking Open CRACK: Unethical Sterilization Movement Gains Momentum

Abstract

This essay takes an in depth look at CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) which, despite its benevolent name, is an organization whose primary goal is to promote population control by paying $200 to women in substance abuse problems who can document that they have been sterilized or are using long term birth control. The organization is funded by private donations and distributes its literature to parents, police, social workers, probation officers, hospital workers, church leaders, etc. The author compares CRACK’s program to earlier sterilization movements as it shares the same eugenic philosophy; in that the primary goal is to eliminate children born with drug addictions arguing they cost the taxpayers too much money. The author argues that CRACK entraps low-income women of color, eliminates the possibility of these women have future “problem children” and in doing so seeks to eliminate the reproductive capacity of disadvantaged women rather than eliminating the social conditions which cause their disadvantage in the first place. The author states that the CRACK campaign poses a serious threat to the reproductive rights of all women, not just those currently targeted.

Keywords: CRACK, Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, substance abuse, sterilization, reproductive rights, eugenics, women, birth control, coercion, consent, Project Prevention

JEL Classification: K10, K19