THE TIMES POLL : Most Support Norplant for Teens, Drug Addicts

Gov. Pete Wilson has struck a responsive chord with most Californians by taking steps to make a controversial new birth control implant widely available to teen-agers and drug-abusing women of childbearing age, The Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

A majority of people interviewed by the poll approve of providing teen-age girls with the device. Further, six in 10 people think it should be mandatory for drug abusers.

“There has to be something to save the unborn child from the effects of crack,” said Raynetta Dixon of Los Angeles, one of those interviewed who agreed to talk to a reporter.

The governor, in an interview with The Times on May 16, disclosed that he was moving toward increasing the availability of the device, known as Norplant, through state-financed family planning clinics and the Medi-Cal health care program for poor people. Wilson said he did not believe teen-agers would need their parents’ consent to use the device, which he expected to be “widely sought by sexually active young adults who don’t want to become pregnant.”

Further, Wilson said he was exploring making the device available to any woman who had given birth to a crack baby--an infant born addicted to the potent form of cocaine. “To the extent you can prevent the birth of an addicted newborn, who can be terribly and irreversibly damaged, God knows you want to do that,” he said.

Asked if he wanted to require drug abusers to use the device, the governor said: “Frankly, we haven’t decided.”

Norplant, designed to prevent conception for five years after it is inserted, consists of six plastic capsules surgically implanted in the upper arm. The capsules release a synthetic hormone now used in birth control pills.

The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, asked Californians their views about Norplant from May 18 through last Tuesday. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,679 adults, representing a cross-section of the state. The margin of error for the findings is three percentage points in either direction for the entire sample and higher for some subgroups.

Interviewers gave respondents a brief explanation of Norplant and asked how they would feel about making the device available to teen-age girls. The response was 57% approval, 36% disapproval and 7% not sure.

Latinos were about evenly split on the question; blacks approved by 5 to 4, and Anglos overwhelmingly supported it by 2 to 1.

People also were asked if they would approve of making the device available to teen-age girls without their parents’ consent. Thirty-one percent said yes, but 26% replied that girls should tell their parents before obtaining an implant.

“It’s the lesser of two evils,” said Karen Morgan, a mother of two from the San Jose area who does not think parental consent should be required for a Norplant. “If young girls don’t have it because they don’t want to tell mom and dad, the alternative--getting pregnant--is worse. It would be grand if they would discuss these things with their parents, but it also would be grand if the world worked the way it’s supposed to.

“Kids are bombarded by peer pressure and television and other stuff and they’re not being controlled. It’s a bad situation. We’ve got to help them all we can.”

Bonnie Killian, who lives near Fresno, said she strongly favors allowing teen-age girls to obtain the contraceptive without their parents’ permission. A cashier in a market, she told of having her first child at 16 and spending several years on welfare. She rejected the argument that making Norplant available would encourage promiscuity.

“If they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it anyway,” Killian said. “I was brought up in a religious home, but I did just what I wanted. If they don’t have birth control, it’s going to be worse for them because they won’t finish their education. . . . For a lot of girls this is hard to talk about with their parents. I know firsthand.”

Steve Mitchell of Pomona expressed an opposing view. “When you’re that age, you’re not old enough to make that kind of decision,” he said. “It would give teen-age girls carte blanche to have sex any time and not get pregnant. That takes a lot of responsibility for the act out of it.”

The poll also asked people how they felt about making Norplant mandatory for drug-abusing women of childbearing age. The response was 61% approval--including 46% strong approval--and only 32% disapproval.

Seven in 10 Latinos favored requiring Norplant for drug addicts, as did six in 10 blacks and Anglos. Even a narrow majority of liberals, who usually object to infringements on civil liberties, supported the idea.

Dixon, the Los Angeles woman who strongly favors making Norplant mandatory for addicts, told a Times reporter about a friend whose sister has had two crack babies, both disabled. She said many crack users trade sex for the drug and repeatedly get pregnant.

“Being pregnant means nothing to them,” she said. “They live and breathe and eat the drug. Pregnancy is like going to the restroom for them. It’s something that just happens and they go ahead and have the baby.”

Fredrick Phillips of Compton said that “when women use drugs, the babies are born with problems. We don’t need the extra medical expense for the babies being born addicted. I feel like if they’re on drugs, they give up their rights.”

Alan Atha of La Mesa disagreed. “I’m opposed to almost anything that smacks of taking away our freedoms,” he said. Mitchell of Pomona called mandatory contraception “close to genocide.”

Not everybody who favors making the implant available to teen-age girls supports making it mandatory for drug addicts--far from it. Only 38% of those interviewed wanted to do both. Another 49% favored one, but not the other. And 13% supported neither idea.

In the survey, people also were asked about any problems children might be having in their neighborhoods. Up to 10 answers were permitted. Heading the list of neighborhood problems was drug abuse; 47% reported that it exists among local children. Forty percent also cited alcohol abuse and 36% mentioned teen-age pregnancy and “fighting with parents.”

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Los Angeles Times Poll interviewed 1,679 adult Californians statewide, by telephone, May 18 through last Tuesday. Telephone numbers were generated from a computer list that includes all telephone exchanges in the state. Random-digit dialing techniques were used to ensure that each region of the state is properly represented and that both listed and unlisted residences have an opportunity to be contacted. Results are adjusted to conform with census figures on characteristics such as sex, race, age, education and household size. The margin of sampling error for percentages based on the total sample is plus or minus three percentage points. For percentages based on certain subgroups, the error margin is somewhat higher.

The Los Angeles Times Poll

How Californians View the Norplant Birth Control Device Controversy

The Los Angeles Times Poll asked these questions of 1,679 Californians in the period between May 18 and last Tuesday.

As you may know, a new birth control device called Norplant has recently been introduced in the United States. This device, which consists of six plastic capsules surgically implanted under a woman’s arm, will prevent pregnancy for up to five years. Do you approve or disapprove of this device being made available to teen-age girls? (If approve) Would you approve or disapprove of making it available without their parents’ consent?

APPROVE APPROVE (WITH PARENTAL (WITHOUT CONSENT) CONSENT) DISAPPROVE All Californians 26% 31 36 Men 28% 31 34 Women 25% 31 38 Anglos 27% 36 30 Blacks 30% 22 41 Latinos 21% 26 49 Liberals 21% 43 28 Moderates 34% 32 27 Conservatives 27% 27 42

Do you approve or disapprove of making the Norplant device mandatory for drug-abusing women of child-bearing age?

APPROVE APPROVE DISAPPROVE DISAPPROVE STRONGLY SOMEWHAT SOMEWHAT STRONGLY All Californians 46% 15 11 21 Men 44% 15 13 22 Women 48% 16 9 19 Anglos 44% 16 11 22 Blacks 50% 10 9 25 Latinos 55% 14 8 16 Liberals 38% 14 12 29 Moderates 54% 16 9 15 Conservatives 43% 16 12 25

NOTE: Percentages may not add to 100% because of rounding and/or “don’t know” responses.