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University burns through Plan B, gets 200 free boxes after applying for grant
Appalachian State University's (App State) Wellness and Prevention Services has received a donation of 192 boxes of Plan B One-Step emergency contraception, which students can get anonymously.
Appalachian State University applied for a Plan B donation to help supply its students with emergency contraception.
The application was approved, and the school received more than $9,000 worth of Plan B to give to students.
Students can get Plan B without giving their name or email address.
Students who take Plan B must be aware that certain symptoms could signal an ectopic pregnancy, which requires an immediate medical visit.
As Live Action News previously noted, emergency contraception "can prevent healthy progesterone rise in the second part (luteal phase) of the cycle.... If significant enough, ovulation could occur (and possibly fertilization), but research wouldn’t catch or capture it because of the Plan B-caused lack of progesterone rise." Plan B can alter the uterine lining, making it potentially inhospitable to the newly-created human being.
According to The Appalachian Online, App State's Hailey Richard, who works for the university's Wellness and Prevention Services, applied to Plan B for a grant at the beginning of the semester.
She had been searching for donations because App State ran out of Plan B early in the year, and she instead sent a male student to an off-campus pharmacy to buy it. Speaking with that student inspired her to keep searching for donations and grants that could be used to get Plan B for students.
"He seemed so stressed out," she said, "and I felt really bad for him."
After telling the male student where to get Plan B (it is unclear if the girl involved wanted to take the drug), Ricard found the Plan B One-Step Emergency Contraception Donation Initiative. She submitted an application and was approved within days. When she heard the news, she "literally screamed in the middle of this coffee shop."
Plan B typically costs up to $50, and Ricard said the price is a barrier for students. It usually runs the school $5,772 for its typical supply, but the retail value of the Plan B donated to App State is about $9,598.
It could last just six months at the rate that the students use it, which could also signal that students are engaging in reckless sexual activity with little thought to its potential effects.
“Removing that barrier and just being able to have it be affordable and accessible is our biggest goal,” Ricard said.
She also explained that students can get Plan B and contraception from the Wellness and Prevention Services front desk without providing even a name.
“A lot of the time students coming in are already nervous. I don’t want them to feel stigmatized when they’re picking up these items,” Ricard said.
Perhaps the nervousness and stress indicate that unmarried college students should be focused on academics, not on hooking up and having sex when they aren't prepared to become parents.
Pregnancy doesn't just happen, so 'feeling bad' for a student for potentially facing an unplanned pregnancy doesn't do any good, especially when it's the adults who have been encouraging sex among students as part of the college experience. Yet, when they face a potential pregnancy, there is stigma and shame attached, with school leadership telling them it's better to keep it a secret.
It isn't the sex App State is trying to keep secret; it's the potential pregnancy that's viewed as the problem.
Further, not knowing anything about the students who take Plan B, including when they last had sex, could be risky. Plan B is not necessarily complication-free. Symptoms such as severe lower abdominal pain and heavy vaginal bleeding could signal an ectopic pregnancy, which requires an immediate medical visit. If no one is aware that a student took Plan B, a student could be put in physical danger.
In addition, these young women are afraid of becoming pregnant, but some of them already may have conceived. And, as previously reported by Live Action News, there’s nuance around whether Plan B can act as an abortifacient. Plan B is supposed to prevent pregnancy by stopping or delaying ovulation. Scientific research usually measures successful ovulation by a) rupture of a mature follicle (and release of the egg that was inside, which is now available for fertilization), and b) a certain rise in progesterone (which is produced by the corpus luteum, the leftovers of that ruptured follicle).
However, hormonal contraception and, in particular, emergency contraception, "can prevent healthy progesterone rise in the second part (luteal phase) of the cycle. This is called a luteal phase defect. If significant enough, ovulation could occur (and possibly fertilization), but research wouldn’t catch or capture it because of the Plan B-caused lack of progesterone rise," explained Live Action News author Anne Marie Williams, RN, BSN.
The effects of Plan B could then prevent implantation of the new human being into the uterine wall, which would end his or her life that began at fertilization.
In 2023, Plan B's manufacturer removed the language about this potential effect from the drug's pamphlet, leaving the women who take the drug unaware.
Handing out Plan B for free and anonymously is a disservice to the students and families who have entrusted App State with their care and well-being.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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·University burns through Plan B, gets 200 free boxes after applying for grant
Appalachian State University's (App State) Wellness and Prevention Services has received a donation of 192 boxes of Plan B One-Step emergency contraception, which students can get anonymously.
Appalachian State University applied for a Plan B donation to help supply its students with emergency contraception.
The application was approved, and the school received more than $9,000 worth of Plan B to give to students.
Students can get Plan B without giving their name or email address.
Students who take Plan B must be aware that certain symptoms could signal an ectopic pregnancy, which requires an immediate medical visit.
As Live Action News previously noted, emergency contraception "can prevent healthy progesterone rise in the second part (luteal phase) of the cycle.... If significant enough, ovulation could occur (and possibly fertilization), but research wouldn’t catch or capture it because of the Plan B-caused lack of progesterone rise." Plan B can alter the uterine lining, making it potentially inhospitable to the newly-created human being.
According to The Appalachian Online, App State's Hailey Richard, who works for the university's Wellness and Prevention Services, applied to Plan B for a grant at the beginning of the semester.
She had been searching for donations because App State ran out of Plan B early in the year, and she instead sent a male student to an off-campus pharmacy to buy it. Speaking with that student inspired her to keep searching for donations and grants that could be used to get Plan B for students.
"He seemed so stressed out," she said, "and I felt really bad for him."
After telling the male student where to get Plan B (it is unclear if the girl involved wanted to take the drug), Ricard found the Plan B One-Step Emergency Contraception Donation Initiative. She submitted an application and was approved within days. When she heard the news, she "literally screamed in the middle of this coffee shop."
Plan B typically costs up to $50, and Ricard said the price is a barrier for students. It usually runs the school $5,772 for its typical supply, but the retail value of the Plan B donated to App State is about $9,598.
It could last just six months at the rate that the students use it, which could also signal that students are engaging in reckless sexual activity with little thought to its potential effects.
“Removing that barrier and just being able to have it be affordable and accessible is our biggest goal,” Ricard said.
She also explained that students can get Plan B and contraception from the Wellness and Prevention Services front desk without providing even a name.
“A lot of the time students coming in are already nervous. I don’t want them to feel stigmatized when they’re picking up these items,” Ricard said.
Perhaps the nervousness and stress indicate that unmarried college students should be focused on academics, not on hooking up and having sex when they aren't prepared to become parents.
Pregnancy doesn't just happen, so 'feeling bad' for a student for potentially facing an unplanned pregnancy doesn't do any good, especially when it's the adults who have been encouraging sex among students as part of the college experience. Yet, when they face a potential pregnancy, there is stigma and shame attached, with school leadership telling them it's better to keep it a secret.
It isn't the sex App State is trying to keep secret; it's the potential pregnancy that's viewed as the problem.
Further, not knowing anything about the students who take Plan B, including when they last had sex, could be risky. Plan B is not necessarily complication-free. Symptoms such as severe lower abdominal pain and heavy vaginal bleeding could signal an ectopic pregnancy, which requires an immediate medical visit. If no one is aware that a student took Plan B, a student could be put in physical danger.
In addition, these young women are afraid of becoming pregnant, but some of them already may have conceived. And, as previously reported by Live Action News, there’s nuance around whether Plan B can act as an abortifacient. Plan B is supposed to prevent pregnancy by stopping or delaying ovulation. Scientific research usually measures successful ovulation by a) rupture of a mature follicle (and release of the egg that was inside, which is now available for fertilization), and b) a certain rise in progesterone (which is produced by the corpus luteum, the leftovers of that ruptured follicle).
However, hormonal contraception and, in particular, emergency contraception, "can prevent healthy progesterone rise in the second part (luteal phase) of the cycle. This is called a luteal phase defect. If significant enough, ovulation could occur (and possibly fertilization), but research wouldn’t catch or capture it because of the Plan B-caused lack of progesterone rise," explained Live Action News author Anne Marie Williams, RN, BSN.
The effects of Plan B could then prevent implantation of the new human being into the uterine wall, which would end his or her life that began at fertilization.
In 2023, Plan B's manufacturer removed the language about this potential effect from the drug's pamphlet, leaving the women who take the drug unaware.
Handing out Plan B for free and anonymously is a disservice to the students and families who have entrusted App State with their care and well-being.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Carole Novielli
·International
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Bridget Sielicki
·Analysis
Cassy Cooke
·Politics
Sheena Rodriguez
·Politics
Nancy Flanders
·International
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Politics
Nancy Flanders
·International
Nancy Flanders
·