University to Sell Morning-After Pill From Campus Vending Machine
Forget chips and cola, students at one university in Pennsylvania can now buy the morning-after pill from a vending machine.
The machine was installed in the health center at Shippensburg University at the request of the student association after a survey found that 85 percent of student respondents supported the idea.
Each dose of the Plan B emergency contraceptive costs $25 and the school does not profit from the sales.
"The machine is really used as much for privacy as anything else," Dr. Roger Serr, vice president of student affairs at the university, told CBS Philly.
Plan B is available without a prescription to anyone over the age of 17. After checking the school records, administrators confirmed that all current students at Shippensburg fit that criteria.
The vending machine, which also dispenses condoms and pregnancy tests, is in a room at the health center that is only accessible by students.
"If the health center is manned 24/7, that sounds like it's a sufficient protection," Jessica Sheets Pika, spokeswoman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told the AP.
What do you think? Should the morning-after pill be available in vending machines for college students?
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