FDA to college: Carry on with morning-after pill vending machines

Controversy has surrounded Shippensburg University, in Pennsylvania, ever since it decided to provide Plan B, commonly referred to as the "morning-after pill," in a college campus vending machine along with condoms and other forms of birth control.

The Food and Drug Administration said last week that it had looked into the validity of the machine and will take no action against it.

"FDA looked at publicly available information about Shippensburg's vending program and spoke with university and campus health officials and decided not to take any regulatory actions," Erica V. Jefferson, an FDA spokeswoman, said in a statement made available to MSN News.

Shippensburg put the emergency contraception in the student health center vending machine after a campus survey found 85 percent of students wanted it accessible, My Fox Chicago reports.

Some critics say the easily accessible pills would provide a safety net encouraging students to have unprotected sex, but both the Student Senate and the University Forum passed resolutions saying the medication should continue to be dispensed.

Studies show 49 percent of all pregnancies in America are unintended, My Fox reports. Plan B is legal to buy without a prescription for those 17 and older and is meant to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.