'Morning-after' vending machines on campus

Students at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine installed at the request of the student government.

The Etter Health Center at Shippensburg, a public school of 8,300 students in Appalachia's scenic Cumberland Valley, provides the Plan B One Step emergency contraceptive, along with condoms and pregnancy tests.

The pill is available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older. The school found that all current students are that age or older, spokesman Peter Gigliotti said. The machine is in a private room accessible only by students.

The pill's availability in a vending machine appears to be rare, if not unprecedented. Some religious conservatives consider the emergency contraceptive tantamount to an abortion drug.

The drug isn't covered or subsidized by the school. Its price is set by the school's cost to the pharmaceutical company and is less than at off-campus pharmacies. -- AP