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Sterilisation group’s tactics condemned by SDF and others
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3 June 2010
SCOTTISH Drugs Forum Director David Liddell has joined in criticism of a US-based group which seeks to pay problem drug or alcohol users to be sterilised, after it was reported to have approached a woman in one of Glasgow’s most deprived areas.
In a letter to The Scotsman dated 25 May 2010, David strongly condemned the reported actions of Project Prevention which, according to various media sources at the end of May, offered £200 in the street to a non-drug using woman from Possilpark to be sterilised or have a contraceptive implant.
Project Prevention’s arrival in UK was highlighted in the media in April and
The Herald newspaper carried a story that month saying the fund would look favourably on requests from Scotland.
Andrew Horne of Addaction in Scotland was quoted in the Scotsman report as saying its practices were morally reprehensible and irrelevant and that many clients stopped using drugs because they became a parent.
In the letter published in The Scotsman on 25 May, David Liddell wrote:
“The real problem for most of Scotland’s problematic drug users is the highly-destructive impact of poverty and deprivation at all stages of their lives.
“All women – irrespective of whether they are drug users or not – should be offered family planning advice to avoid unwanted pregnancies, but the tactics and underlying agenda of this organisation smack of the discredited eugenics movements of the early 20th century.
“To suggest wiping out a section of the population as a justifiable response to the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor in our country is appalling and cannot be reconciled with the notion of a just and fair society.
“The focus must be on eradicating the health and social inequalities underlying our drugs problem in Scotland.
“At the very least, there must be easy access to high-quality treatment programmes – including family planning – which work alongside the wider social support that is vital if vulnerable families are to have a chance of overcoming the overwhelming and often soul-destroying challenges life throws at them.”