‘Plan B’ vending machine deliberated by HRC

Citing the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overruled Roe vs. Wade and Michigan State University’s (MSU) commitment to make free menstrual products available throughout campus, the East Lansing Human Rights Commission (HRC) is looking into the possibility of offering over-the-counter emergency contraceptives in one or two local vending machines.

On Feb. 26, the HRC held one of its Coffee & Conversation events, a series of informal gatherings held nearly every month to discuss one specific issue. Its February meeting focused on reproductive justice. Since that time, commissioners have been researching the feasibility of emergency contraceptive vending machines.

HRC Commissioners Julia Walters and Joshua Hewitt took the lead in the research and both spoke with ELi for this report.

Emergency contraceptive vending machines are appearing at other colleges and universities.

Walters remembered hearing about emergency contraceptive vending machines popping up at American colleges and universities. She obtained a list of 40 schools that have added machines to the campuses, including Cornell, Tulane and Purdue universities.

“Once we saw MSU making menstrual products available, I felt like there might be an option of making something similar happen here,” Walters said.

Walters, a 2023 MSU graduate with a degree in Social Relations and Policy, was involved in student government at the university before also becoming a commissioner on the HRC.

“We have the opportunity to do something for the community,” Walters said. “There have been stories of pharmacists refusing to sell emergency contraception because of their personal beliefs that this removes them from the transaction.”

On April 19, less than a dozen protestors were seen carrying signs and marching outside of the Walgreens at 100 W. Grand River Ave. in downtown East Lansing. They were protesting the pharmacy for carrying and selling Plan B.

Plan B is the name brand emergency contraceptive that can help prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

At the HRC’s March 13 meeting, commissioners spoke excitedly about the possibility. But East Lansing’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Elaine Hardy tempered the eagerness by laying out some hurdles that need to be addressed.

“HRC has the capacity to recommend anything,” Hardy said. “Pragmatically, I think it is a matter of hearing what the recommendation is and seeing if it is something that a department in the city or the HRC has the capacity to do. Thinking about how it would be [established], who would maintain it…all of those kinds of questions have to be fleshed out in some kind of recommendation.”

Hardy also said that the Parks, Recreation and Arts Department was the body that maintained the city’s current slate of vending machines.

HRC has been researching more affordable emergency contraception options.

In their research, the commission discovered an option that would make the emergency contraception more affordable than the kind available over-the-counter, typically costing as much as $50.

“There’s an option to purchase directly from Xiromed at $20 per pill,” HRC Commissioner Joshua Hewitt told ELi in an email. Xiromed is  the pharmaceutical company that produces Progesterone, a pill sometimes used to terminate pregnancies.

“Or [we can] go through MMCAP [Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy] at $4.79 per pill,” Hewitt said.

The vending machine, Hewitt’s research showed, would cost $2,969 plus tax and could be purchased from Seaga Manufacturing out of Illinois.

During its March 13 meeting, Hewitt wondered aloud if two vending machines would be appropriate, one on the MSU campus and another at the Hannah Community Center at 819 Abbot Road.

A partnership with the university, however, has not yet been developed.

“It would make sense to work with MSU to make this happen,” Walters said. “Most of the instances of these vending machines being installed have happened on college and university campuses.”

Professor and dean of admissions for MSU College of Medicine sees some hurdles.

ELi spoke with Dr. Joel Maurer, MD, who is the Assistant Dean for Admissions at MSU’s College of Human Medicine and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. Maurer has not been involved in any conversations with the HRC but agreed to speak on his own thoughts about the possibility of an emergency contraceptive vending machine.

“There are a number of obstacles that keep people from accessing [emergency contraceptive],” Maurer said. “My gut reaction is that anything that can be done, if we believe that a vending machine or a series of vending machines would help to eliminate a wide variety of obstacles that people have in accessing emergency contraception, then we should have a serious conversation about moving in that direction.

“I’m supportive, but the devil is in the details. Where would they be located? Who is the audience that we’re trying to target? How do we strategically get them located in a way that minimizes stigma for people wanting to access that product?”

Maurer also expressed concern about additional supports an individual might need but can’t  purchase from a vending machine. Members of the HRC commission spent time discussing similar thoughts during their deliberations.

“Many people who need to access emergency contraception,” Maurer said, “there is physical and psychological trauma involved with that. It’s great to have something that is going to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. But what is the next step in making sure that those accessing emergency contraception have access to the other services someone might need who finds themselves in that situation.”

Maurer, who asked if any of the vending machines in other cities had been vandalized, considered whether the university would be willing to partner with the city.

“In the end, I think it has to be supported by the highest levels of leadership at the university and there’s a side of me that wants to say that would happen,” he said. ”But it’s a very polarizing topic right now. For better or for worse, these are public servants in a sense [and] they’re getting paid with a check that is from public funds for the most part. Are there certain people they would have to answer to? I would like to think it would be supported but, we just experienced a violent shooting. Is this going to trigger something violent again? We don’t want that.”

The HRC next meets on Aug 14 at 7 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center.