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February 7, 2012 in Nation/World
Vending machine dispenses ’morning-after’ pill
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Students at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania can get the “morning-after” pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine installed at the request of the student government.
The Etter Health Center at Shippensburg, a public school of 8,300 students in Appalachia’s scenic Cumberland Valley, provides the Plan B One Step emergency contraceptive along with condoms, decongestants and pregnancy tests.
The pill is available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older, and the school checked records and found that all current students are that age or older, spokesman Peter Gigliotti said.
The machine was installed after a request from the student association. The pill’s availability in a vending machine appears to be rare, if not unprecedented.
The idea started when Shippensburg conducted a survey about health center services several years ago, and 85 percent of the respondents supported making Plan B available, he said.
“The machine is in a private room in our health center, and the health center is only accessible by students,” Gigliotti said in a statement. “In addition, no one can walk in off the street and go into the health center. Students proceed to a check-in desk located in the lobby and after checking in are granted access to the treatment area.”
Taking Plan B within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. It works best if taken within 24 hours.
Some religious conservatives consider the emergency contraceptive tantamount to an abortion drug. A spokeswoman for the National Right to Life Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jessica Sheets Pika, a spokeswoman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said that “if the health center is manned 24/7, that sounds like it’s a sufficient protection.”
“But if there’s a chance that people under 17 are able to access it, that’s a problem,” she added.
The drug isn’t covered or subsidized by the school. Its price at the vending machine is set by the school’s cost to the pharmaceutical company and is less than at off-campus pharmacies.
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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jessiepn on February 07 at 11:01 a.m.
What? Someone using reason and logic to provide help with a legal health care product to young people? What will they think of next?
Good call, Shippensburg. You’ve done right by your students while making sure the letter of the law can be followed, and that seems like a positive step to me.
Coffee on February 07 at 11:32 a.m.
This was a good call. There is nothing more devastating to a young adult or teenager than a unintended pregnancy.
The_Seer on February 07 at 12:06 p.m.
More than half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned. Any steps that helps with more responsible family planning should be encouraged. For most of our nation’s history this has been a non-partisan issue.
valleyman on February 07 at 12:35 p.m.
And how does this college intend to ensure that those under the legal age for obtaining this over-the-counter abortificant do not gain access to it?
Now that this is public knowledge, I would be willing to bet that local middle/high school kids will be headed over to the health center to get their hands on this sans advice from a Dr., pharmacist, and God forbid their parents…
@Coffee: Nothing more devastating eh? How about learning to live a life free of any consequence for bad decisions?
misjustice on February 07 at 12:52 p.m.
This is a great idea for areas where the pharmacists think they are gawds, instead of just folks that take big containers of pills and count them and put them into little containters; you know, the holier-than-thou types that want to with hold any type of Plan B, RU480, or birth control from women (due to their claim of conscience) but that have no problem selling Viagra to old men with ED. In other words, hypocrites.
The vending machines could be placed at regular grocery stores and other public shopping areas and we could cut out the pharmacists completely!
jdspokanewa on February 07 at 1:21 p.m.
Valleyman, read the article before leaping to conclusions. The information is all in the article had you chose to read it.
Diana on February 07 at 1:40 p.m.
Bagger mooed: “Nothing more devastating eh? How about learning to live a life free of any consequence for bad decisions?”
I know, right? These women should be punished with forced pregnancies. That’ll teach them and make valleyman feel better. Win-win!
mkries2 on February 07 at 1:58 p.m.
Why is it so shocking that a college doesn’t like it when its students have to drop out to care for a baby? This is a no-cost way to help prevent that from happening. Sound business decision.
Dollie12 on February 07 at 2:00 p.m.
Innovative! Hats off SU!
johnclarke on February 07 at 2:01 p.m.
huzzah !
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 2:08 p.m.
One complication…no agreement in the world will suffice. How about those pulmonary clots? Still like it?
Lawsuits waiting to happen.
Coffee…..you mean nothing more devastating that the child you murdered?
Note_to_Self on February 07 at 2:37 p.m.
85% of those surveyed supported it. I wish the narrow minded religious folks would mind their own business.
@ valleyman: rape is not a “bad decision” on the part of the victim and last time I checked, college students are having sex. Always have, Always will.
Coffee on February 07 at 2:38 p.m.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 2:08 p.m.
I do not believe that life begins at conception. If I did I would be working to keep women from having any job or doing any thing that could cause a spontaneous abortion of a fetus. Now I have read a lot of your comments and have not see any that call for women to be isolated and protected from life as we Americans lead it today.
So at what point does life begin?
Note_to_Self on February 07 at 3:11 p.m.
That’s a good point Coffee. The question of when life begins is a philisophical one and religious people like to think their philisophical view is the only correct one. Like Dazzeetrader 11 comment that taking the morning after pill is akin to murder. What about selective reduction during in vitro fertilization? Is that murder? There are many couples that can’t concieve a child without the help of in vitro fertilization. Many embryos perish in the lab or are miscarreid in that process. Is that mass murder?
valleyman on February 07 at 3:27 p.m.
Once again you show your collective lack of intelligent thought Diana. You’ve got nothing intellegent to say so you spout out “bagger mooed”.
I have a right to disagree with you without being called names. You are what is wrong with our uncivil society.
dougfresh on February 07 at 3:33 p.m.
Miscarriage due to stress or other factors should be involuntary manslaughter according to to Dazzeee.
A plan B pill might get rid of a few week old fetus. A goldfish has more consciousness, emotion, and feeling than that.
valleyman on February 07 at 3:41 p.m.
@dougfresh: And what makes your viewpoint any more right than someone who disagrees with you?
The real problem with this whole thread is that only those of the pro-choice perspective are entitled to their point of view… Everyone else gets “mooed” at.
Diana on February 07 at 3:58 p.m.
@valleyman, you’re free to express your point of view, but it’s not my fault you can’t make a cogent point. That’s your problem, not mine.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 4:17 p.m.
doug don’t be an idiot…unforseen things happen all the time and people die. Not manslaughter…accidents happen.
Life begins at fertilixation. Period. A little ball of cells continues to grow and become a child, an adult…on to old age. It’s the life process.
Now, many would say the ball of cells has no personality, can’t learn or remember and is completely helpless and dependent.
How does this differ from you grandmother when she hits 90 -95, etc oor a subnormal child who is dependent upon feedling and needs constand bowel and bladder care….or an auto accident victim who’s nearly beheaded but survives???
Answer? : no different. As much as some people want to just ignore a fetus ( they don’t have to see it) killing a child in progress is no different from murdering your grandpa who can’t live all on his own. The nursing home stokr victim type.
They are ALL people. Life is a process from the very beginning (helpless and dependent) to the very end ( helpless and dependent). Just because you don’t see a murder it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We don’t kill kill humans because they are a nuisance or because nobody would know. …at the beginning or the end. Got it now???
Dollie12 on February 07 at 4:27 p.m.
That’s fine if you want to take this conversation to the next level, but for the record Plan B is not an abortion pill. It does not terminate an existing pregnancy. Read up…
http://www.planbonestep.com/
detroitdude on February 07 at 4:34 p.m.
This is exactly what the students paying for and attending the college have agreed upon, including all the pro-lifers attending said college. I find this idea to be smart and safe, if the students/customers get behind this then that is how it should be at their school. It is rather dumb to decry a college campus for acknowledging that kids are going to party and hook up and sometimes things go wrong, I think its commendable to have this machine available for the morning after and/or walk of shame.
drywitt99 on February 07 at 5:15 p.m.
Dazed: Economic theorist….reproductive expect….Verner/Obama hater.
QUITE THE RESUME!!!
misjustice on February 07 at 5:33 p.m.
Plan B will NOT terminate a pregnancy; it is not the same as RU480. I would have expected someone CLAIMING to hold a PhD and to be in the health care field to KNOW THAT!
*duh*
nslopeofw on February 07 at 6:04 p.m.
It is for those times when a woman wakes up, and realizes the condom broke. Or that maybe she didn’t care if he had a condom last night, but now she is starting to think (without booze in her system.)
Not all of the reasons its OK are related to rape, incest, etc. Sometimes, people make mistakes. This isn’t the same as getting pregnant, going down to the doc, and having the baby removed. Its kinda like insurance. Just making sure.
SMARTGUY on February 07 at 6:05 p.m.
The father has no say at all if his girlfriend ends his babys life. Does that really sound reasonable to anyone. What if she did it 2 months later, 6 months, a year, when does it go from a choice to a crime?
nslopeofw on February 07 at 6:20 p.m.
Well, it sounds like this pill does not terminate a pregnancy, so no big deal there.
I agree that the father should have some rights, but who knows!
johnclarke on February 07 at 6:27 p.m.
this thread wins.
SMARTGUY on February 07 at 6:33 p.m.
Does it really seem fair that if she keeps the baby the man must support it for up to 22 years, but if she decides to terminate the baby, he has no say in the matter at all. No legal stance of any kind? In America, WOW
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 6:50 p.m.
Dry Dimwitt…nice..and yes all those mantels I accept:)
jdspokanewa on February 07 at 6:58 p.m.
It was voted on and agreed to, seems the same old tired people on here who bash gays use voting to keep gays from having rights but refuse voting for something having to do with a woman’s right to make health decisions about her body.
And for the record, this is free enterprise at its finest right? A company makes a product, there is demand, but religious nutbags who cry about regulation want to regulate…nothing new from the hypocritical right.
misjustice on February 07 at 7:03 p.m.
Good points, JD. The usual suspects “love” voting when THEY get to decide on whether or not OTHER people get to have equality but “hate” voting when THEY do not get the outcome that THEY desire.
*sigh*
Coffee on February 07 at 7:08 p.m.
Dazzeetrader11:
Are you ok with preventing women of child bearing age from driving, working as police, firemen, in most industries that use harsh chemical or drinking or smoking etc. These things I just mentioned can all contribute or cause and lost of a fetus. To answer your accident idea all of the above things could be prevented if women of child bearing age were stopped from doing them. Are you up for getting laws passed to save these children?
Thayne on February 07 at 7:24 p.m.
What’s interesting is the likes of valleyman and dazzed implying it’s only a woman’s responsibility to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. The last time I checked it “takes two to tango”. What’s wrong with at least half of the responsibility being on the man. As I’ve heard many times if it was men, who got pregnant - birth control would be 100% effective. Since I’m a male, I don’t think I have any right to tell a women what to to with their body.
johnclarke on February 07 at 7:38 p.m.
I mean, this is really the main point of all this nonsense, right? Never in the history of conception has there been a pregnancy without two responsible parties, in spite of fictional stories. The man wants “rights” and to “protect the unborn” yet there is one small problem with that. They don’t seem want to protect the unwanted born, regardless of who the father is - yet they have an opinion don’t they? These comments are not meant to insult responsible fathers of course. I mean, there should be no unwanted children, no uncared for children or no children wanting for adoption, right? Life is sacred, right ?
Tell you what, if a man had to carry that life for 9 months then go through childbirth then be responsible for that life for 18 plus years - abortion would be legal and free and this discussion be not happening.
Coffee on February 07 at 7:40 p.m.
jdspokanewa on February 07 at 6:58 p.m.
misjustice on February 07 at 7:03 p.m.
Read the story it does not have a thing to do with gay marriage or
did I miss something.
As far as I know was it a rule promulgated by the FDA on how the pills could be dispensed no public vote was ever taken.
The only thing the school as done is ask the students if they wanted them out of a vending machine instead of a school nurse handing them to them. or did I miss read the story?
greenlibertarian on February 07 at 7:43 p.m.
Interesting take on it, coffee.
I do hope any young woman in this situation ALSO knows that a two day course of quadruple the dose of most birth control pills will work the same as an “morning-after” treatment.
Here’s a list of these:
http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/dose.html#dose
Dosages may vary.
It is generally though that this sort of BC prevents an egg being fertilized. Some think it’s possible this sort of BC may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting.
jdspokanewa on February 07 at 8:01 p.m.
Coffee, I read the article and I’ve read the responds. Many of those who are throwing a fit about this are the same ones who oppose gay marriage, I am simply linking the two.
misjustice on February 07 at 8:19 p.m.
“…Shippensburg conducted a survey about health center services several years ago, and 85 percent of the respondents supported making Plan B available.”
Okay, not “technically” a vote but a survey; and a majority in favor. So the majority has spoken; why the hue and cry over it here (and the false claims that Plan B is an abortion pill???) and I also agreed with JD’s observation. So, sue me!
silverlake89 on February 07 at 8:31 p.m.
Coffee…as a woman who became unexpectedly pregnant at 19 I can easily give you a hundred other worse things. If nothing else abortion has shone a bright light on just how vain and selfish some people can be.
Valleyman…since the vending machine is limited to students the only concerns I would have is the fact that any student can now get this in mass quantity and do god knows what with it, and the lack of having a pharmacist available to answer questions about risks and side effects. I guess well have to wait and see how this pans out.
In a civilized society this is not progress. It is just a sad reality.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 07 at 10:21 p.m.
One thing to possibly keep in mind is that a large number of rapes (date- and otherwise) occur on college campuses or to college students… and a large number of those go unreported, for a variety of reasons. A vending machine like this is a way for rape victims to make sure they don’t get pregnant without having to go to the police (or a doctor who might ask questions).