Objections to birth control dispensing vending machine

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WOGX FOX 51) - A women’s organization in Gainesville is pushing to put a vending machine on the University of Florida campus that would sell not candy, but Plan B, or the morning after pill. 

The women's organization says part of the reason they want to do this is because the hours here at the infirmary are a little limiting for students 

Imagine this cardboard mockup as a real vending machine. The exterior would be plastic and glass, but the interior would be the same, filled not with candy but with the morning after pill and other health products.

“Having it in a vending machine would mean piece of mind. You know that you can go get the morning after pill for the $10 price 24/7, whenever,” said Alia DeLong from the National Women’s Liberation. 

The National Women’s Liberation is pushing for a Plan B vending machine at the University of Florida. The pill would cost $10, compared to the over-the-counter pharmacy price of $50. 

The women’s group requested the machine on campus last fall. UF denied it, telling Fox 35 it already offers the morning after pill at the campus infirmary for the same discounted price. But NWL isn’t satisfied, citing limited infirmary hours. The infirmary on campus is open no later than 5 p.m. and closes on holidays and weekends during the summer. 

“It's really stressful to have your birth control fail and then to have the university that you pay to go to say ‘Oh no you can wait,’” said DeLong.

“It would be more accessible to people rather than having to go to the drugstore or something like that,” said UF freshman Carson Goodman.

“Maybe they see this as not having the freedom that they think that they deserve or are entitled to but at the same time, being Catholic, you have a baby inside you so it's kind of important to remember that,” said UF freshman Stefen Lagos.

But when it comes to Plan B, National Women’s Liberation says there’s only plan A. 

“I think it's unacceptable that they don't understand why it's important,” said DeLong.

National Women's Liberation held their first speak out this week and they plan to hold another one come the fall.