University offers ‘morning-after’ pill in vending machine

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — One American university is selling from a vending machine a contraceptive drug that can cause an abortion.

Shippensburg University, a state school in south-central Pennsylvania, stocks a vending machine in its health center with Plan B One-Step, known as the “morning-after” pill or “emergency contraception.” While the method works to restrict ovulation or prevent fertilization, it also has a back-up chemistry that can operate after fertilization, blocking implantation of a tiny embryo in the uterine wall, thereby causing an abortion.

While other universities sell the “morning-after” pill, Shippensburg’s vending machine is reportedly the only one in the country to stock the drug, according to the Associated Press (AP). It has been sold by means of the vending machine for two years and costs $25. Between 350 and 400 doses are purchased each year, AP reported Feb. 10. Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America, decried the availability of the drug in a vending machine.

“Shippensburg University’s decision to sell Plan B — an emergency contraception that results in the murder of pre-born children and one that touts a slew of harmful effects on women — in a vending machine on campus is reflective of how dangerous the disease of abortion has become,” Hawkins said.

Under federal regulations, women 17 and older do not need a prescription to buy the “morning-after” pill, but they must request the drug from pharmacists, who stock it behind their counters.