# Texas...where white trash get paid not to breed.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 14, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962 "2002-07-14T23:35:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/21 "2002-07-16T03:46:41Z")
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> You’re essentially bribing a desperate male drug addict to more or less permanently give up his right to breed.
If that’s what it takes to keep unwanted children from coming into this world, who will most likely grow up to be criminals and drug addicts themselves, I think it’s WELL worth the $200 investment. Hell, if I were rich I’d do exactly the same thing.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/22 "2002-07-16T04:16:28Z")
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> Rationally I can fully support restricting some people’s right to breed. I just don’t know where choice begins and coercion ends on this particular slippery slope.
Choice ends and coercion begins when you start to make decisions for other people. On what do you base any such program?
As I said above, if it’s voluntary, what’s the problem?
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### Author:  [@spathiphyllum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spathiphyllum)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/23 "2002-07-17T04:19:47Z")
I was a bit rushed when I was writing my first reply in this thread, but now that I have had time to go back to their website, I noticed this bit from [the statistics page](http://www.cashforbirthcontrol.com/reasons/statistics.html)
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> Number of paid clients, 707 women and 17 men, who have made the responsible and logical choice.
After 700 clients, they’ve only had SEVENTEEN male clients? If the clients saw the program as merely a way of making money to buy more drugs, I’d think that the numbers would be more balanced. I have to wonder if these lopsided numbers indicate that women recognize more easily the consequences of unplanned pregnancy, and therefore are more willing to take preventive measures. Meanwhile, the men probably just figure, “It’s HER problem. Let HER take care of it” if they get someone pregnant, and feel no need to get a vasectomy.
Incidentally, I get the sense some of the people here look down on drug addicts. While I do feel that drug abuse is very self-destructive, I do not have any feelings of hostility towards drug addicts. I am sure not all drug addicts are stupid, immoral, criminals, etc. But the simple fact is that being exposed to drugs in utero is not good for fetuses/babies, and therefore I support this program.
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### Author:  [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/24 "2002-07-17T04:32:23Z")
A tubal ligation, around here at least, costs about 10k to reverse.
It’s kinda hard to do, too.
How can it be genocide when nobody is being killed? Their conception is merely being provented. It’s like saying it’s genocide when someone uses a condom.
If ya’ll wanna scream about genocide go read about Margaret Sanger and why she founded Planned Parenthood.
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### Author:  [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/25 "2002-07-17T04:34:04Z")
Provented?
I knew that didn’t look right.
Prevented.
It’s late here, forgive me.
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/26 "2002-07-17T07:10:47Z")
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> \*Originally posted by spathiphyllum \*
> **After 700 clients, they’ve only had SEVENTEEN male clients? If the clients saw the program as merely a way of making money to buy more drugs, I’d think that the numbers would be more balanced. I have to wonder if these lopsided numbers indicate that women recognize more easily the consequences of unplanned pregnancy, and therefore are more willing to take preventive measures. Meanwhile, the men probably just figure, “It’s HER problem. Let HER take care of it” if they get someone pregnant, and feel no need to get a vasectomy.**
I’ve never heard of the option being offered to men before this thread. I wonder how long that’s been part of the program - perhaps length of time has something to do with the lopsided numbers.
I also notice that there have been more people of color sterilized than caucasians sterilized which does not align with racial breakdowns of people who use drugs. One of the objections people made in this area (when a group who did this moved in) is that while they were willing to sterilize anyone, they only advertised in predominately black neighborhoods. If you lived in the whiter areas of town, you’d never know the program was going on, but it was pervasively advertised in black neighborhoods.
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### Author:  [@Seraphim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seraphim)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-where-white-trash-get-paid-not-to-breed/118962/27 "2002-07-17T09:46:26Z")
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> \*Originally posted by gatopescado \*
> \*\*Ah, Texas! As long as you are in the union, folk from Missouri will have a place to ridicule! 😃
> \*\*
[Abe Simpson]I’ll be buried deep in the cold cold ground before I recognize Mis-sour-a![/Abe Simpson]
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