FDA Allows “Plan B” Vending Machine at University

Federal regulators will let a Pennsylvania university continue to dispense Plan B — also known as the morning-after pill — through a vending machine.

The Food and Drug Administration decided not to intervene following an uproar over the vending machine Shippensburg University installed in its nurses’ office.

The FDA looked at publicly available information about Shippenburg State’s vending program and spoke with university and campus health officials and decided not to take any regulatory actions.

Students at the university can obtain Plan B without waiting for an appointment by depositing $25 in the machine.

Plan B is a controversial medication, as many conservatives believe it causes abortion. Many liberals, on the other hand, were upset when the FDA — under orders from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — declined to make it available without a prescription to women younger than 17.

Plan B, which is commonly referred to by pro-abortion activists as a so-called “emergency contraception” drug, is actually a high dosage of hormones ordinarily found in physician-prescribed “birth control” pills. According to documentation from manufacturers of the Plan B, the pill must be taken within 72 hours after sexual intercourse to be effective. While Plan B’s primary purpose is to prevent ovulation, it is also designed to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg when taken AFTER conception, thereby causing some chemical abortions.

For more information on Plan B, also known as the Morning After Pill (MAP), click here.