University offering morning after pill in health center vending machin

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   Stacie Lposted 12 years ago

   University offering morning after pill in health center vending machine
   By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow
   
   Shippensburg University is coming under fire today after local television affiliate WTAE reported that the university has begun selling the Plan B emergency contraception pill inside one of its student vending machines.
   
   "This is a legal medication," university spokesman Peter Gigliotti told Yahoo News. "You can go into any pharmacy and purchase it legally if you are 17 or older."
   http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/un … 10757.html is this progressive thinking  and should medications be sold in vending machines?

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   maxoxam41posted 12 years ago

   Don't students know how babies are conceived yet?

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   
   Anybody's monitor good enough to read the note and/or price?

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   Shanna11posted 12 years ago

   Hmm. This is interesting. I tried to zoom in to see, but the picture is too grainy for my computer.
   
   Is there any potential for drug abuse?
   
   I think if a student isn't comfortable with going to a doctor and asking for birth control, then they aren't mature enough to be having sex. I guess if you forgot to take your pill and it's an emergency, it can be very beneficial, but I just wonder about the potential for abuse.
   
   Would students feel comfortable sidling up to an open-access vending machine and buying a pill for all to see?

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      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I thought of that as well. The general population would probably be embarrassed, but students are probably more advanced.

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      MelissaBarrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For reasons i'll not go into, I had to take the morning after pill once.  Unless they have RADICALLY improved the drug, abuse is not likely to be an issue.  Three days of vomiting, random hot flashes and abdominal cramps really isn't worth it in a non-emergency.

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         Shanna11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Ah, I've never taken it, so I wasn't sure. That does not sound fun at all!

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            MelissaBarrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Certainly not worth it for the average person to use as a form of regular birth control.  It's one of the few medicines on the market that side-effects are the norm, not a fluke.  Using it once or twice should convince all but the most masochistic or idiotic that condoms/pills are a bit less disrupting to life.

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   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   I read a news story online the other day about kids in England being given a contraceptive implant, at school, aged 13 and without parental knowledge!
   
   Had to go and find the link - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic … ds-newsxml
   
   At least students at uni are almost adult!

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   HattieMattieMaeposted 12 years ago

   I have read a lot on this, and I understand that in certain situations it may be needed in if it is in a vending machine, and for example you've been raped at a frat party, I think it would give the girl some sense in the fact that she doesn't have to live with someone else's abuse for the rest of her life. In this situation it is painful enough. If she didn't have a car to get to the pharmacy, it is available. It is not like they are selling something you get high off of. It is birth control, and if I remember right you can buy condoms in bathrooms. It is mistaken by many to be an abortion pill, but it is not. It stops the sperm and egg from meeting. Well you can read that on many sites. The only thing is women can over do it. I don't think your supposed to use it more than once, and it can mess up your menstrual cycle. The thing is teens are taking it every time they have sex. It's not made for this, and not like regular birth controls. It can mess up your hormones very badly if you use it to much. It is intended for emergency situations.

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      MelissaBarrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In all fairness, it does not stop an egg and sperm from meeting... it stops a fertilized egg from implanting.  Normal birth control pills stop ovulation, Plan B doesn't work that way.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   It's beginning to sound to me like that vending machine needs a big warning plaque. I hope that's what that note is.

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   HattieMattieMaeposted 12 years ago

   . How does Plan B work?
   
   Plan B works like other birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. Plan B acts primarily by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary (ovulation). It may prevent the union of sperm and egg (fertilization). If fertilization does occur, Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation). If a fertilized egg is implanted prior to taking Plan B, Plan B will not work.
   http://www.fda.gov/drugs/emergencyprepa … 109795.htm

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      MelissaBarrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Which would make it completely ineffective if ovulation had already occurred which is the time when women are fertile anyway, hence the majority of pregnancies that plan B actually prevents are already fertilized eggs.
      
      It's political spin HattieMattieMae.  I'm pro-choice but let's call a spade a spade.  If it only worked to prevent ovulation, it would be largely useless.  It's the "If fertilization does occur, Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation)." part of the definition that is the one that actually prevents pregnancies under emergency situations.

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         HattieMattieMaeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I didn't write it...That is what the information states. Was just posting the literature.

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