Snacking on Plan B: Shippensburg University’s new vending machine offering

When I was a college student, vending machines provided quick and easy access to potato chips, popcorn, Mountain Dew, and other highly nutritional dining choices. However, for students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, at least one vending machine offers immediate assistance for hormonally-charged students preparing for sexual intercourse.

One student center at Shippensburg features a vending machine with condoms, pregnancy tests, and the Plan B contraceptive (commonly known as “the morning-after pill”).

This emergency contraception is available to anyone on campus who simply provides a student I.D. Students don’t need to risk the embarrassment of being seen at their local pharmacy.

This vending machine is provided largely at the demands of students, 85 percent of whom said they wanted access to Plan B on campus.

There has been some debate as to whether Plan B should be classified as an abortifacient. Pam Belluck of the New York Times claims that studies on the drug do not conclusively prove that it does, in fact, terminate the life of a child.

Nevertheless, the federally approved labels on the drug claim that it “may also work…by preventing attachment (implantation) to the uterus (womb).” If Plan B prevents implantation of a fertilized egg, then it is terminating the life of a conceived child and, hence, acting as an abortifacient.

The FDA did agree to look into the vending machine at Shippensburg but ultimately decided to take no action.

Presently, Plan B is available to girls over 17 without a prescription. But Fox News contributor Dr. Manny Alvarez warns, “But how is it possible to monitor the automatic dispensing of this Plan B to younger girls? I thought the FDA was going to look at these dispensing machines more carefully before approving them.”

Alvarez also points out some of the dangerous side-effects of the drug, including “mid-cycle spotting, irregular bleeding, hives, swelling of the face and lips – and for some, even nausea and diarrhea.” He then notes that “if a young woman was to use Plan B as her main method of contraception without proper medical follow-up,” it could potentially cause her “to miss symptoms of ectopic pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.”

The automatic dispensing of Plan B is yet another example of pro-abortion passion that wants access to emergency contraception at any cost. Even if Plan B is an abortfacient with dangerous side-effects, pro-choice zealots want to ensure that it can be quickly purchased at a vending machine with no accountability from parents, physicians, or pharmacists.