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

lan ^ | Nicholas Claxton

[Morgana]

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”).

planbThis 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.

[Morgana]

Now I have seen it all! Boy they sure did not have this when I was in college and have a feeling that was a good thing.

[a fool in paradise]

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.

Still at risk of VD. Still at risk of being spotted with the partner from the 2-backed beast relationship from the 1-nite stand.

Killing babies because "gosh, it's like so uncool and embarassing". This nation is going to Hell.

The man is called a "deadbeat dad" if he refuses to pay for 18 years of child support but the woman is "empowered" for shirking her responsibility to her child and murdering it instead.

[MacMattico]

I’ll admit when I was 12, we used to sneak into a local restaurant to buy cigarettes from the cigarette machine. I never even liked smoking, but it was cool. They knew kids would buy the cigarettes if they put the machine close to the front door but behind a little wall out of sight of diners and workers. They made a lot of money off the 10 and up crowd.