Snacks, stickers, condoms, tampons, decongestants and pregnancy tests aren’t the only items in vending machines available for students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Now they can purchase Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive, for $25.
Some are offended by the idea and oppose this method of purchasing the morning after Plan B pill almost as much as they oppose the pill, but making it available is a good idea. The pill can be legally sold over-the-counter to anyone 17 and older, and to those under 17 with a prescription. It is used to prevent ovulation, fertilization or implantation, but only in the event that unprotected sex has occurred. It will not abort a pre-existing pregnancy.
Access to the morning after pill through the privacy of a vending machine is a move in the right direction, especially when it comes to victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault goes unreported 60 percent of the time, 15 of 16 rapists never spend time in jail and one in four college women have been a victim of rape.
Taking Plan B within 72 hours of a condom breaking, forgetting regular contraceptives or rape prevents the chance of pregnancy by nearly 90 percent. It works best if taken within 24 hours.
Shippensburg University’s vending machine is located in the Etter Health Center, which is only accessible to faculty and students. Roger Serr, vice president of Student Affairs, said the vending machine is about student privacy.
Fear of embarrassment or repercussions can prevent students from going to pharmacies or doctors after unprotected sex, so private access to this pill could help prevent unplanned pregnancies.
Sexual assault is one of the most unreported crimes. The shame of being a victim of sexual assault prevents women from reporting and seeking medical attention. Providing students with access to the morning after pill in a private location, such as a vending machine, could help prevent unplanned pregnancies due to sexual assault.
The steep price and unpleasant side effects of Plan B may also discourage students from misusing it as birth control, and only using it in the case of an emergency. Side effects include changes in one’s period, nausea, lower abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, dizziness and breast tenderness.
Students at Shippensburg University said they think it is great the school is providing the option because some people have said they would be too embarrassed to go to town for the contraceptive. Shippensburg has a permanent population of about 6,000.
The machine in question has been in place for nearly two years, but is just now gaining attention from the FDA after an official resigned from the nation’s largest breast cancer charity over funding for Planned Parenthood, and after the Obama administration was attacked for requiring church-affiliated employers to provide birth control.
The worry is that it’s taking personalized medicine too far in making too many drugs available without the consult of a doctor or pharmacy.
What Shippensburg University has done by making Plan B available is in the best interest of its students. Access to birth control, morning-after pills and other contraceptives shouldn’t be difficult — or embarrassing — for students to obtain. Accidents happen, but they shouldn’t define the rest of your life.