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US: Increasing number of college campuses have vending machines for morning-after pill

(Worthy News) – Following last year’s decision by the US Supreme Court to revoke the right to abortion up to viability, an increasing number of American universities are installing vending machines stocked not only with pregnancy tests and contraceptives but also with Plan B and generic forms of the morning-after pill, the Associated Press reports. 

According to the American Society for Emergency Contraception, 39 universities in 17 states now have vending machines selling the morning-after pill, AP reports. Universities in at least 20 other states are considering installing them – including in states such as Oklahoma, where abortion is almost totally banned.

Washington this year became the first state to set aside $200,000 to fund $10,000 grants for colleges to expand access to the morning-after pill through vending machines, AP reports. Illinois and New York are working on legislation that would allow state colleges to install at least one vending machine on their campuses, and Connecticut this year approved Plan B to be dispensed through vending machines on state college campuses.

While many states have imposed near-total bans on abortion since Roe v Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, the morning-after pill remains legal and available over the counter in all 50 states.

Having the drug available on college campuses has support from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, AP reports. “This just enables people to have better access and easier access,”  Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, one of several Republicans in Connecticut’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly who approved the measure, told AP. “You may need Plan B, as we all know, in the middle of the night, and you won’t have access to a pharmacy until the morning.”