Rightwing disinformation on Plan B vending machines at colleges ‘harmful to young lives’

The headlines warned parents of an unspeakable horror on college campuses – something even more dangerous to their precious children than left-leaning curricula. “Abortion vending machines are appearing on college campuses,” one stated. “Abortions pills available by vending machine at 39 US colleges,” said another.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life America, wrote that there was a “recent obsession with putting Plan B vending machines on college and university campuses as some kind of miracle drug in a post-Roe America”.

“An anti-baby, anti-family bias permeates many campuses exposing students to risks and dangers they are either not told about or told to ignore.” The “casual distribution of Plan B”, Hawkins also wrote, exposes young women “to dangerous people, to unknown physical consequences, and to the current epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)”.

The apparent conservative backlash against Plan B vending machines stems from an influx of colleges installing them on campuses – at least 39 with more to come – amid post-Roe v Wade abortion restrictions. Advocates worry that criticism and disinformation could stymie access to emergency contraception.

“Plan B is an emergency contraceptive,” said Kelly Cleland, executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception. “Plan B works by preventing or delaying ovulation. If you miss the point in the cycle to prevent ovulation, it doesn’t work.

“It’s different from the abortion pill in that Plan B prevents pregnancy from ever happening and medication abortion is used to end a pregnancy after somebody already has an established pregnancy.”

Since it works by preventing ovulation, there’s a “really short window” for taking it. Because of this urgency, Plan B vending machines could help college students who might not be able to access Plan B elsewhere – due to remote geography, lack of transportation or intractable pharmacies.

“Vending machines are such a good solution because they can be 24/7, or close to 24/7 access,” Cleland said. “They can provide the product at a much lower cost and discreetly.”

Of opposition to Plan B and birth control generally, Cleland said: “It’s a little hard for me to get my head around being against contraception if you want to prevent abortion.

“Preventing pregnancy is the best way to prevent abortion. Plan B, along with other contraceptives, can help people prevent pregnancies they don’t want,” she added.

Ellen Herlihy, a student at Bard College in New York state, who has led efforts to install a Plan B vending machine on her campus, said that emergency contraception is nothing new to students – and that these machines are simply part of that. One will soon be installed in a student hub at Bard.

“All that putting emergency contraception in a vending machine does is really increase its visibility and accessibility,” Herlihy said.

“Emergency contraception in vending machines is just a safe and effective way of acquiring a product that has been a part of college – especially a part of young women’s – lives in college, for a while. EC has been bought and used by millions and millions of women in college for a long time and is not something that is a new idea or practice.”

Misinformation on emergency contraception, Herlihy said, can be “incredibly damaging and harmful to the young lives” of people in college by discouraging them from seeking it.

“If they feel more confident that their health will not be at risk by taking a pill, then they will not be put in a situation that causes more damage in the long-term like bearing a child at such a young age … or having to give up their education,” she said.

Jakeya Johnson, a graduate student at Maryland’s Bowie State University, has been advocating for an emergency contraception vending machine on campus for two years. She said that they were something that students wanted and needed – not just for the medication, but privacy and judgment-free access. “It’s really important that students have that kind of autonomy over their own healthcare,” she said.

Seeing this need, Johnson said, she wrote a bill and presented the proposed legislation to a state legislator. Due to Johnson’s efforts, a law was passed requiring University System of Maryland schools to have a reproductive health plan – including 24-hour access to emergency contraception – by fall 2024.

Johnson is advocating for these vending machines, which would include emergency contraception and wellness items, to be on her campus by the fall semester. As for backlash to emergency contraception in vending machines, Johnson said she was “shocked”.

“There’s so much misinformation coming from the right,” she said. “To call Plan B an abortion pill is completely wrong.”

What’s more, restrictions on abortion have intensified the need for emergency contraception access for students in Maryland even though it is still legal in the state, she said.

“Abortion providers in the area are overwhelmed because they’re seeing an influx of patients from out of state,” she said. “You may have longer wait times, which may make it more difficult for you to access the care you need.”

Anti-abortion advocates have stood by their opposition to Plan B vending machines even though they could prevent unwanted pregnancies and thus, demand for abortions.

“Plan B vending machines are a bad idea because they expose vulnerable young women to many risks, including abusers and the pandemic of STDs, which are not prevented with a pill,” Students for Life America said in a statement, also saying: “The vending machines are a medically negligent policy because they are set up without any assessment of total risk for the women taking them, including the risks of multiple doses of strong hormones.”

Asked about disinformation surrounding Plan B, Foundation Consumer Healthcare, which makes Plan B One-Step, said: “Given the misinformation circulating around reproductive health, it is especially important that women are educated about options like Plan B One-Step emergency contraception, so they know how it works and can continue to be assured it remains legal and available in all 50 states.”

The company noted that it had donated Plan B One-step to advocacy and campus organizations, as well as clinics; through this initiative, they have donated more than 265,000 units of Plan B at no cost, the company said.