April 13, 1993

A mother seeks one less worry

By Pamela Ferdinand, Herald Staff Writer

Miami

Inside Margaret Mack's yellow bungalow in east Fort Lauderdale, someone has pinned the double-layered curtains closed, throwing the $100-a-month apartment into shadows. Framed family photos, shiny ceramic madonnas and school certificates decorate the living room, lit only by a flickering television screen.

A baby, his nose running, wheels around in a plastic stroller. His sister and brother, 4 and 5, watch television or draw.

Mack, 22, a single mother until a recent marriage, used to spend her days here, surrounded by her brood, watching TV, seeing few friends. She hopes her decision last year to be sterilized -- ensuring that she will not have more children -- will give her more freedom and less worry over the prospect of another mouth to feed.

"Having kids means there are a lot of things I can't hardly do, like go out and be with my friends," Mack said.

Her father left before she was born. Her mother is a housekeeper. Reared in Fort Lauderdale, Mack went to school at Rutgers Middle School and Fort Lauderdale High School.

At 16, she said she lost her virginity to a live-in boyfriend. A year later, they broke up, he got into drugs and Mack discovered she was pregnant.

At 17, she gave birth to a 9-pound 10-ounce baby, Cedrick Mack, after nearly two days of labor. She did not like her partner's use of condoms. Then she went to a Broward public health clinic and tried the birth- control pill. She missed taking one. At 18, Mack gave birth to her second child, Jessica Malone. Three years later, she had her third and last child, Ellonjsa Brutton, after a difficult seven-hour labor.

She never considered abortion. Back at the Broward health clinic, workers told her about sterilization. With the support of her family and her fiance, she signed the consent form and waited 30 days. Medicaid paid for the operation last year.

She still frets about money, relying on food stamps and her husband's pay from dishwashing. She still prays her children will turn out to be good people. But, she said, "At least I don't have to worry about getting pregnant."