Towson U considers putting morning after pill in health center vending machines

Towson, Md - It's not an issue of having birth control on campus.

Free Condoms are available; baskets of them in every dorm in very clever displays.

Other types of contraception are offered at the heath center from birth control pills to this.

Plan B.

"Plan B has been available since it hit the market it was first as a prescription drug and now a non prescription drug we've been making it available since it first came out." Dowell Health Center Director Jane Halpern says.

The drug is designed to be used as an emergency contraceptive.

It's basically a large dose of the one of the key ingredients in common birth control pills...progesterone It can only be purchased by people over the age of 17 is FDA approved and considered very safe.

So at Towson U, the next logical step is to make it easier to get.

And that means putting it in a vending machine in the Dowell Health Center.

"As long as they showed they were 17 or over they could access the vending machine they wouldn't need to explain to somebody what happened why they want it they could just go in and get it and that would be the end of it." Halpern says.

Doctor Halpren says that for many people sex is still hard to talk about.

She says by having the machine in the heath center it would give students options.

As long as they were 17 they could get the drug and go.

Or if there were questions they would have someone to speak with.

 Critics of such a proposal say the pill is a form of abortion because it prevents a fertilized egg from being implanted.

Other critics say it promotes promiscuity and may encourage the spread of STD's.       

But counselors say that’s an argument that's been heard before.

“That's what people said 25 years ago when we started promoting condoms when in response to the new HIV crisis  I think it’s an old argument that gets brought up every time there's some new technology to help people have more responsible sex." Towson Sexual Health Educator Lenora Meyers says.

Meyers and Dr. Halpern say that this is right now under consideration but probably a year or so away from happening.

They’re still researching vending machines to see what would be practical and to make sure that only students over the age of 17 could get access.

That's why for now, a machine would only be in the health center.