Emergency Contraception Vending Machines Are More Vital Than Ever on Campus, Students Say

glamour.com:

By Chips, soda, Tylenol, and…Plan B?As college students grapple with the potential ramifications of having sex , some reproductive healthcare advocates are working to add emergency contraception to the lineup of essentials distributed via on-campus vending machines.

Proponents say putting in a vending machine can help eliminate stigma around acquiring the pill. Vending machines can also make emergency contraception— which differs protection like condoms, birth control pills, or IUDs in that it’s used immediately after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy—easier to access.

Plus, there's a time constraint—pills like Plan B typically need to be taken within 72 hours—that adds to the urgency. And yet, while many schools offer reproductive healthcare services such as pregnancy tests and STD/STI testing, emergency contraception (and really contraception overall), is often an afterthought – despite the fact that it’s paramount.Jakeya Johnson, a 28-year-old graduate student at Bowie State University and mom to a four-year-old daughter, has always been passionate about reproductive justice.

So when she was asked to create a solution to an issue for a public policy course, her “first thought” was to look at which reproductive services were available on campus at Bowie State, in Maryland.