Reproductive Rights Club Opens Plan B Vending Machine

By James Kelly

Published April 24, 2026

Plymouth State students will now have free access to Plan B and other contraceptives through a vending machine stocked by the Reproductive Rights Action Club. The vending machine is stationed in the Student Support Foundation’s Community Cupboard, located in Room 118 on the second floor of the Hartman Union Building. The machine is stocked with condoms, internal condoms, dental dams, over-the-counter birth control, pregnancy tests, ovulation tests, and Plan B.

RRAC opened the vending machine to students at an April 24 ribbon cutting ceremony. Club President Hannah Lowell told The Clock she was excited to finally have the vending machine officially open after more than a year of working to make the project a reality. Between the Plymouth Rite Aid’s closure last summer and Federal and State attacks on Reproductive healthcare, Lowell said student access to contraceptives is more important now than ever. “Living in a very rural area in the mountains, it’s especially important to have access when it’s under attack,” she said.

The vending machine itself is meant to prevent people from stealing or abusing the products, Lowell told the Student Senate in March. The machine has a timer to keep people from taking everything at once. “It’s completely free, but it doesn’t allow people just to wipe it out,” she said. “If somebody wanted to be greedy, it would take them a long time.”

RRAC, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood’s Generation Action network, requested $1,900 from the Student Senate in March to purchase the vending machine. Though RRAC is otherwise funded by Planned Parenthood — meaning they do not recieve a regular allocation from the Student Senate — Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is currently facing an $8.6 million deficit, which prompted RRAC to turn to the Student Senate’s Conference, Events, and Activities fund for the vending machine. The Student Senate approved the request in full. 

The contents of the machine were mostly donated by other organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Lowell said. RRAC purchased the Plan B themselves.

RRAC was inspired by a similar vending machine at UNH, which the University’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action chapter launched in December, 2024. Before the Plymouth machine opened, UNH’s was the only contraceptive vending machine in the State, Lowell said. RRAC met with the UNH group for advice on setting up and maintaining the machine. “They put a lot of work into it, but people love it and it’s restocked all the time,” Lowell told the Student Senate.