In a fairly controversial disclosure, it has recently been revealed that students of the Pennsylvania-based Shippensburg University are easily accessing morning-after pills by just inserting $25 inside a vending machine.

The concept of installing such a machine at the university has attracted a number of raised eyebrows, with a large number of official bodies as well as federal regulators raising questions regarding the permissible accessibility of emergency contraceptives.

The Shippensburg student health center, which is reportedly a private public institute having in excess of 8,300 students placed between the Cumberland Valley mountain ridges, offers the so-called “Plan B One Step” emergency contraceptive pills in the vending device.

Apart from pills, the vending machine is also used to access items like decongestants, pregnancy tests and condoms.

While expressing her opinion regarding the entire scenario, junior Chelsea Wehking claimed in a statement given on Tuesday: “I think it's great that the school is giving us this option. I've heard some kids say they'd be too embarrassed to go into town — Shippensburg, permanent population about 6,000 — and buy Plan B”.

As per federal regulations, the pills are available to anyone aged 17 or above without prescription, and it has been claimed that as per school records all the students present there are at least 17 years of age and so the vending machine and those using it are not offending the regulations.

It doesn't seem like there’s any other such vending device in the United States that provide the contraceptive needed to avoid unwanted pregnancy, provided the pill is taken soon after having a sexual intercourse. However, the reports have even claimed that the machine placed in the university is active there since the last two years or so, though its presence was not broadly known before now.