US Univs To Have Vending Machines For Morning After Pills

College students in America have problems accessing the morning after pill and other birth control methods. So Stanford University has decided to install a vending machine which sells the morning after pill for $25. The machine will also sell condoms.

The point is to provide an anonymous all-hour service to students who would otherwise have to go to a store, or university health centres which are closed on weekends

Stanford graduate Rachel Samuels' efforts led the push for the machine. She was on the university’s student government last year. She said that her friend had to scour a CVS, Walgreens and Target, all drug stores, to find the morning after pill. The pill has to be taken within 24 hours of intercourse, otherwise it is not effective. Samuels said that the whole process had been stressful and humiliating.

The vending machine solution is more private and cheaper.

This year, Indian-origin student Parteek Singh designed a vending machine for the pill, which he installed in the University of California Davis. The machine took two years to build. It also gives pregnancy tests, tampons and condoms.

"This project will make Plan B and other health resources more accessible and affordable impacting 35,000 undergraduate and graduate students at UC Davis," Singh said.

He said that every college should have this. Fifty boxes of the emergency contraception pill have been sold since the machine was installed in April.

Awareness about contraceptives is low in India. Only 70-80 per cent of women have access to family planning. A UN study revealed that a record 225 million women are either deprived or wilfully not using contraceptives.

According to Health Ministry data, the use of contraceptives in India has declined by almost 35 per cent over the last eight years. The decline in contraceptive use is despite a 14 per cent rise in national literacy. Condom use declined 52 per cent over the last eight years, and vasectomies fell 73 per cent. Oral birth control pill use fell 30 per cent, according to data analysed by IndiaSpend.

While contraceptive use fell over the last 8 years, emergency contraceptive pills rose by 100 per cent.

Also Read: Indian government launches new method of birth control for women