News Release
For Immediate Release:  February 8, 2012
Contact:  Diane Gramley    1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

Shippensburg University Sends Wrong Message to Students

(Harrisburg)  It was revealed yesterday that Shippensburg University, a state school in Shippensburg Borough which is divided between Franklin and Cumberland Counties has begun making the so-called morning after pill available to students through a vending machine.  The American Family Association of Pennsylvania, an organization advocating for women and their unborn babies, is appalled that a school of higher education would make such a life destroying pill available to their students.   The AFA of PA is calling on the State Legislature to investigate the legality of Shippensburg University’s offering of the morning after pill through an unsupervised vending machine.

“So, now instead of going to a vending machine to get a candy bar or soda young women can throw in $25 to get a pill to try to help them forget what happened the night before or if they may be pregnant due to those activities to prevent the implantation of the fertilized egg, in essence killing their unborn baby.  How many have been told what the morning after pill really does?   Also, how many students actually responded to the survey that was taken several years ago?”  questioned Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

Another question that arises is whether Shippensburg University is ready to be held liable for the adverse affects the morning after pill can have on the women taking it.  In 2005 the parents of a 16 year old girl sued Philadelphia Health Care Center No. 10 because they wrote a prescription for their daughter without examining her.  Additionally, she suffered severe stomach pains, vomiting, a rash and a swollen face in January 2004 after taking the pills. The suit also alleges that Melissa was treated “under the false pretense that the pills will not terminate a pregnancy,” only prevent pregnancy.

“The AFA of PA is asking the mature adults at Shippensburg University to do the right thing and step forward to protect the female students at their school.  They may pay the $25 to end the possibility of pregnancy, but that will not protect them from STDs which the number of cases have risen since the morning after pill has become more available.  The school should do what is best for their students and providing a vending machine with the morning after pill does not send the message that they care about the well being of the student population,” Gramley concluded.

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