BIRTH-CONTROL IDEA DRAWS FIRE, PRAISE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993                   TAG: 9301160033
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BALTIMORE                                LENGTH: Short
BIRTH-CONTROL IDEA DRAWS FIRE, PRAISE
Maryland's governor wants to offer free Norplant contraceptives to women on welfare and vasectomies to men leaving prison, a plan welfare officials praised Friday but critics called social engineering.
In his State of the State address Thursday, Gov. William Donald Schaefer also said the state should consider making such birth-control measures mandatory in some cases.
"There is real reluctance to push for an extreme step in birth control because of the concern of being called a racist, or too radical. But . . . I am concerned about whether it is smart to add to already overburdened parents or increase the number of abused and neglected children."
Norplant consists of six matchstick-size capsules implanted under the skin of a woman's upper arm. Over five years, the capsules release a contraceptive hormone.
Dick Dowling, a spokesman for the Maryland Catholic Conference, said Schaefer's proposal borders on social engineering.
"Offering Norplant or sterilization as options is extreme. If first the government insists that poor people can't have babies, who's next? Are minority groups next, are disabled groups next?" he said.
But some welfare officials see the proposal as a step toward helping the poor improve their lives.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB