Morning after pill now available through vending machines at UC Davis Campus. Seriously!

Vending machine 

Is UC Davis validating unsafe behavior by selling ‘morning after ‘pill through vending machine across campus? Would you be getting the pill just by pressing a button? Well Yes! 

UC Davis is one of the first college campuses in the country to have a vending machine that offers the Plan B emergency contraceptive, otherwise known as the "morning after pill."

This was made possible by 2 years’ efforts by Parteek Singh, a 21-year-old senior, was running for the student government senator position. "Here at Davis we only have one pharmacy that is open 24/7, and a couple of my friends shared incidents when the pharmacy has ran out of emergency contraceptives on a Friday night and they weren't getting a new shipment until Monday," Singh said.

The vending machine is called ‘Wellness to go’ and also dispenses pregnancy tests, tampons, Advil and condoms.

Federal law makes the levonorgestrel pill available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older and it is freely available at pharmacies across US.

The other pill containing ulipristal acetate is a prescription medicine.

Debate is rife on social medias, news agencies and health forums about the easy availability of the pill on college campuses. The critics are saying that it’s like taking personalized medicine too far! College students will be able to buy the pill, without any medical knowledge or discussing the side effects and risk factors with a health care provider.

Also, it may lead to less frequent use of condoms, that besides preventing pregnancy protects from Sexually Transmitted Infections(STI). Critics also are debating the issue because it is like encouraging more sex on college campus with easy access to contraceptives.

People who favor it say that it will help prevent unwanted pregnancies. Many students support it easy access while others are not comfortable to talk about it.

Meanwhile, A proposed California bill that would require the abortion pill to be provided on all University of California and California State University campuses passed its first committee.

It requires that campuses that have student health services to offer medical abortion pill and scientifically accurate information to be provided to the students.