Colleges Dispense ‘Morning-After’ Pills in Vending Machines| National Catholic Register

The push for ‘reproductive wellness’ on campuses has led to vending machines dispensing pills that can end human lives.

The University of Connecticut has just installed a “Plan B” vending machine in the basement of the Student Union “in an effort to expand access to contraception.” Plan B is a recent development, a form of emergency contraception that is used within 72 hours after having unprotected sex. The University’s Student Health and Wellness Division explains Plan B contraception’s use and effectiveness on its website, claiming, in part, that Plan B is safe and effective, and that it reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89%.

I thought, when I read the article reporting on UConn’s distribution of birth control medications, that the University of Connecticut was alone in encouraging women to avoid pregnancy while not avoiding sexual activity. UConn is, as Fox News reports, the first college in the state of Connecticut to install a Plan B vending machine.

However, with just a little research I discovered that there are at least 39 other universities across the United States that have vending machines that offer Plan B, condoms and other “reproductive wellness” products — thus protecting their female students from inconvenient pregnancy, while stopping short of protecting the babies they might have conceived. The cost of Plan B through a vending machine is generally cheaper than the same drug purchased from a pharmacy; vending machine packages typically range from roughly $10 to $30.

I am left struggling to find words to describe this decision on the part of university administrators. Never mind that there is a significant risk to women who self-administer Plan B without the oversight of a trained medical expert. And while the FDA removed the age restriction in 2013 (before that, one had to be at least 18 to purchase Plan B), many pharmacies — fearing a lawsuit if the drug has deleterious side effects — still impose restrictions, such as a requirement that underage women have a signed parental consent before they can purchase the drug. There is no such age restriction governing who can push the button on a vending machine.

But what exactly does Plan B do?

The drug may cause the ovary to delay the release of the egg. Or fertilization may be prevented in the fallopian tube. Or (and this is the most important part) Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. That is, it may cause a fertilized egg — an early-stage human being — to be flushed down the toilet, rather than being protected and nourished in the mother’s womb. That is, by any honest interpretation, an abortion.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute advises and leads the pro-life movement with groundbreaking scientific, statistical, and medical research, leveraging this research to educate policymakers, the media, and the public on the value of life from fertilization to natural death. The Lozier Institute explains the reality that all hormonal contraceptives are potentially abortifacient:

Yet despite all the considerable evidence regarding the abortifacient effect of emergency contraceptives (EC), mandate proponents — Lillian Tamayo, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Florida, for example — continue to deride those who contend that ECs can induce abortion. Her view is valid only if one accepts the Orwellian-newspeak-definition of conception — “the implantation of a fertilized ovum” — adopted by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in 1965 to obscure the reality that all hormonal contraceptives are potentially abortifacient. For the rest of the world, fertilization and conception are synonymous and mark the beginning of a new living organism.

Susan E. Wills, an Associate Scholar with the Lozier Institute, reports the results of one of the largest studies of emergency contraception, published in 2010 and 2011 by Gabriela Noe and colleagues. According to that study, women experience changes in their fertility during their menstrual cycle. Around the middle of the cycle, usually between days 10 and 18, there is a significant rise in the level of luteinizing hormone (LH) in a woman’s body. Understanding and tracking one’s LH peak is important for women who are trying to conceive or to avoid pregnancy.

Plan B, Gabriela Noe’s study explains, when given after intercourse in the fertile period and before the LH peak that triggers ovulation, fails to act as a contraceptive 80-92% of the time. It acts instead as an abortifacient, eliminating all embryos likely to have been conceived. When given on the day of ovulation or later to prevent pregnancy from intercourse during the fertile period, it almost always fails to prevent established pregnancies.

While student organizations may campaign to have Plan B vending machines installed at their institutions, college administrators would do well to pause, considering the actual effect of Plan B. A university may easily agree to offer contraception for its students, but whether to facilitate an abortion, even at the earliest stage, is a tougher decision — and many administrators would decide against that option.

The University of Connecticut (and other colleges that make Plan B easily available) have perhaps unwittingly slipped into the abortion business. For the good of their students, for the good of future students not yet born, and for their own spiritual well-being, university administrators should ship the Plan B vending machines back to the drug company.

UConn’s mission statement says that “the university creates and shares knowledge through scholarly and creative achievements, graduate and professional education, and outreach.” They should share this knowledge — the knowledge that Plan B destroys children and that abortion is never the right answer — with their students.