LOCKED in the grip of drug addiction, the only thing mum-of-nine Felicia LeMay cared about was getting her next hit of crystal meth.

The victims of her deadly habit included her baby son, who was born hooked on the drug and put straight into care by social workers.

But the birth helped create a turning point in Felicia's life, and when she fell pregnant again she agreed to take part in a controversial sterilisation scheme which has caused a storm in America - and could be about to hit Britain.

US campaigner Barbara Harris runs Project Prevention - a group which pays drug addicts $300 (about £200) to be sterilised so they cannot have any more children.

Supporters of the organisation - which is funded by donations - applaud the initiative for preventing the birth of babies to addicted mothers.

But critics say it exploits desperate women by funding their habit and depriving them of reproductive choice.

The child of alcoholic parents, 33-year-old Felicia, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, started taking meth at 18.

Speaking from her run-down home, she says: "I couldn't stop the drugs, so my son Reuben was born in 2008 addicted to meth. But my only concern was where my next lot of meth would come from.

Hugs ... Felicia with baby Estrella

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"I will never forgive myself for what happened to him. Reuben has to see a speech therapist and we don't know what other problems he will have when he's older."

Last year Felicia was found guilty of possessing methamphetamine - crystal meth - which heightens the libido and impairs judgment, often resulting in users having lots of kids. She and her husband Albert, a fellow addict, went into rehab and have now been drug-free for ten months.

Of the sterilisation procedure, which was recommended by a social worker, Felicia says: "At first I was scared but then I thought, 'I have too many kids already'. They've suffered so much through having both parents addicted. I had my children taken away for two years because of my meth addiction.

"That was the worse time of my life. I didn't want to risk putting any more babies through the same thing."

Felicia, who was sterilised after having her ninth child three months ago, used the £200 she received to pay household bills.

Broody ... Albert and Felicia with their eight eldest children

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"I know some people think the programme is a bad idea but it worked for us," she says.

"My parents were alcoholics and when I met Albert I was almost an alcoholic myself. Then I started taking meth and felt invincible."

Felicia stopped taking drugs when she was expecting for the first time in 1996 and managed to stay clean during her next six pregnancies.

Shortly after the birth of their seventh baby, Raven, now three, she and Albert were accused of child abandonment and their kids were taken into care.

Felicia says: "We were accused of abandonment because the kids were not going to school and were out causing trouble."

The pair turned to drugs for solace, resulting in their eighth child, Reuben, also being taken from them. But rehab and sterilisation changed everything for Felicia. Her eight kids were returned to her last month and the arrival of a daughter, Estrella, three months ago will now be her last ever birth.

Crack

Project Prevention was set up by Barbara Harris after she and her husband Smitty fostered then adopted several children born to a drug addict mother.

The first, in 1990, was eight-month-old Destiny, whose mum was hooked on crack cocaine.

The woman had three more children over the next two years despite her continued addiction, so Barbara and Smitty, from North Carolina, took the babies into their care.

They were born addicted to crack because of their mother's dependence on it. And that meant Barbara, who has six sons of her own, had to help each of the tots through the harrowing experience of drug withdrawal. "Isiah was in agony for two months," she recalls, referring to one of her adopted sons who is now 17.

"He couldn't sleep or keep food down, and the scream of an addicted baby is like no other scream you'll ever hear."

As a result Barbara, 57, vowed to find a way of stopping addicts having children which they were unable to care for.

In 1997, using £250 of her own money, she started a scheme paying addicts to be sterilised or to use long-term contraception.

The group have a 30ft motorhome which they take to communities with high levels of drug use. Volunteers then give out leaflets about the sterilisation scheme.

Family values ... Barbara, second from the left, with husband Smitty and four of their kids

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Barbara says: "These women have so many children that even if they do get clean they have more children than they can care for.

"I didn't know who I was more angry with - the mothers for having these children or the system for allowing it to happen."

In the past ten years more than 3,290 women have been sterilised through Project Prevention. Clinics tie patients' fallopian tubes rather than carry out a hysterectomy.

Drug addicted men are also paid by Project Prevention to be sterilised. However, only 35 have taken up the offer so far. Barbara is now determined to bring the controversial scheme to Britain.

She says: "I was sent a cheque for £13,000 by a man in London who had heard me on the radio and supported what I'm doing. I've had emails and letters from people in Britain saying I should bring the programme over, so I'm planning a visit in May to get it rolling."

Priority

Critics say the £200 "incentive" is a bribe that will more often than not be spent on drugs.

"Call it what you want but it works," says Barbara.

"These women have told me that without that money they never would have arranged birth control.

"If you pay a woman not to abuse a child, it's the best £200 you can spend."

Ex-meth addict Catitola Moyer, 37, would agree. She has a history of addiction, homelessness, prostitution and mental illness, and agreed to be sterilised last month.

Prior to that she had five children, all of them taken into care.

She says: "I didn't think about birth control when I was an addict. When you're on drugs, drugs are your priority."

Rundown ... this is what Felicia calls home

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Catitola was reunited with her youngest child - now 16 months - after she stopped taking drugs last year. Her other children have been adopted. She says: "I'm pleased I won't be able to have more."

Despite the abuse she encounters from critics, Project Prevention founder Barbara believes vehemently in her cause.

"Women have told me about leaving their babies in a shoe-box in a crack den, selling their children to dealers for sex, even leaving babies in the trash - things so bad I can't even tell you," she says.

But she insists that her work is in no way related to religion.