A number of colleges and universities across the country are offering emergency contraception pills to students at subsidized rates, an initiative that has gained attention following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last year.
George Washington University joined a growing number of universities that have installed vending machines for emergency contraception last month, providing Plan B to students for $30, roughly $20 cheaper than it can be found at pharmacies. The University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Harvard University have also piloted programs to offer the medication, which can be taken to reduce the chance of pregnancy for women who have had unprotected sex or whose birth control method failed, through their student health services at reduced rates.
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At the University of Maryland, the Student Government Association diverted $16,000 of allocated funding in 2021 toward a two-year pilot program to offer emergency contraception for free to students.
“A lot of initiatives that would have happened on campus didn’t end up happening just because everything was virtual. So we had allocated money to pilot this program,” said Isha Yardi, director of health and wellness for the University of Maryland’s Student Government Association.
Since it was launched, 5,500 units of emergency contraception have been dispensed to students.
“I think the sentiment is that outside of the university, Plan B is very expensive, and this is a time-sensitive medication. Students have expressed appreciation that this product is available for free at our health center, and I think that it’s been a helpful initiative for students,” Yardi said.
Student activists at George Washington University also spearheaded an effort to install a vending machine for the pills on their campus in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization last June that found there was no constitutional right to an abortion. A university spokesperson told the Washington Post that the pills were supplied by the vending machine company and are not subsidized or purchased by students or the school.
Shaohannah Faith, capital area regional coordinator for Students for Life of America, called the university’s decision to dispense the emergency contraception “reckless and disappointing” in a statement to the outlet. The anti-abortion group has criticized universities for providing it readily to students.
The group claims that Plan B is “capable of ending the life of a conceived human.”
Previously, Food and Drug Administration-approved packaging for the pills that said they might work by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. In December, though, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, the FDA announced updates to the packaging to remove that language and updated information on its website to say that it is not an abortion pill and does not affect implantation.
Plan B is an over-the-counter drug that “usually stops or delays the release of an egg from the ovary” and is used to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure, the FDA now says.
Plan B is different from the pills used for medication abortions — mifepristone and misoprostol. Federal lawsuits by anti-abortion groups seek to limit access to mifepristone.
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Over 30 other campuses have vending machines offering emergency contraception, according to Kelly Cleland, executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception.
Other universities provide emergency contraception through their student health centers. George Mason University offers it to students for $35, though it’s unclear how it’s offered at a lower rate than pharmaceutical chains, according to a pricing structure. The university also has a vending machine that sells the pills.
