UC Davis has a vending machine in the campus that offers emergency contraception for its students. The machine dispenses condoms, morning-after pills, pregnancy tests, over-the-counter medication, and tampons. It is located at the school's Activities and Recreation Center, and it is called "Wellness to Go Machine."
UC Davis follows other schools all over the country that provides emergency contraceptives for their students at the school's health center, LA Times reported. Claremont's Pomona College and Pennsylvania's Shippensburg University are other schools that sell morning-after pill through vending machines. It's undeniable that a growing number of students are sexually active, and this issue should be dealt with, according to senior student Parteek Signhm, who headed the initiative to install the machines.
According to UC Davis officials Signh really exerted a great deal of effort just to have these vending machines installed. When he was still university senator, he worked with the health service office and school store for two years to make the initiative happen, CBS News reported. Signh though that students might be embarrassed to buy the contraceptive Plan B from other students, which is why he proposed the vending machine, which sells other hygienic products for women.
Singh's vending machine project garnered a lot of positive feedback. Some students even walked up to him to thank him personally. Students from other schools contacted Singh asking him to help them get and install in their campuses vending machines that offers emergency contraceptives.
Associated Students of UC Davis member Georgia Savage said the anonymity that the vending machine provides is very important to her. The judgement-free space that the machine provides saves students from embarrassment, she said.
However, there are also other students who believe that having the vending machine promotes promiscuity sending the wrong message. Some students said the vending machine sends the wrong message. One student said it might encourage students to have unsafe sex complacent because they know there are vending machines that will save them the next day.
