University Selling "Morning-After" Pill From Vending Machine
Students at Shippensburg University now have easier acces to Plan B emergency contraception.
| Posted Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, at 3:51 PM
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
It used to be that the only items you could buy from a vending machine were junk food and soda. But as students at Shippensburg University know, times have changed.
The Associated Press reports that students at the Pennsylvania school can now buy Plan B One Step emergency contraceptive from a vending machine in their student health center, along with condoms, decongestants, and pregnancy tests.
The pill is legally available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older, and the school confirmed that all students were above age before installing the machine. The vending machine is only accessible to students, who will be able to buy the pill for $25. The university will not profit from the sales and says the price covers the cost from pharmaceutical companies.
The idea was approved by the student government after a survey conducted several years ago at the school reported that 85 percent of the student body wanted to have the vending machine installed.
Dr. Roger Serr, a student affairs representative at the school, hopes that the vending machine will make it more comfortable for students to buy the pills if they need them. "It's really there, the machine is really used for privacy if anything else if a person wants to come in," Serr told CBS.
Plan B contains hormones that are meant to stop ovulation or prevent fertilization, and taking the pill within 72 hours of rape, condom failure, or forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. It works best if taken within 24 hours.
