Poll: Birth Control in College Vending Machines

Students at Shippensburg State University can buy Plan B, also referred to as the “morning-after pill" for $25 from a vending machine.

Plan B is an over-the-counter emergency contraceptive pill that can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex.

The vending machine at Shippensburg State University is located in a private room in the school’s student health center that is accessible only to students, according to a university statement released this month.

McDaniel College Director of Media Relations Cheryl Knauer said that McDaniel does not currently offer the pill on campus and doesn't have any plans to.

But McDaniel students think the school should consider it.

McDaniel Freshman Brandon Dulany said there should be a Plan B vending machine at McDaniel.

"I think Shippensburg is advanced in their adaptation of the vending machine," Dulany said. "They're smart, they're giving students the opportunity to take care of themselves, just like college is supposed to teach."

McDaniel Junior Kaitlyn Vadenais agrees that making a Plan B vending machine available on campus would be a positive step.

"The price could be subsidized for students and prevent them from being embarrassed by having to go out into the community [to buy it]," Vadenais said. "College is a learning experience and should be a safe environment for students."

According to Shippensburg State University officials, 85 percent of students said in a survey that they supported making Plan B available.

“The university is not encouraging anyone to be sexually active. That is a decision each student makes on his or her own. The university does strongly encourage all students to make wise and appropriate decisions in all aspects of their lives,” university officials said in a Shippensburg statement.

Some experts have questioned whether vending machine morning after pills make it too easy to get the drug.

"Perhaps it is personalized medicine taken too far," Alexandra Stern, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan, told Fox News. "It's part of the general trend that drugs are available for consumers without interface with a pharmacist or doctors. This trend has serious pitfalls."

The machine at Shippensburg University has been around for two years, but awareness of it was raised only recently, Fox News reported.

McDaniel Freshman Abby Richardson said that she doesn't think Plan B should be offered in vending machines.

"You get candy and soda out of a vending machine, not birth control," Richardson said.