Vending machines commonly found in workplace break rooms generally contain soft drinks or snacks but one machine in Indianapolis dispenses unconventional items at the turn of a knob.
The Plan B morning-after pill, pregnancy tests and condoms are displayed in a clear glass case inside a colorful blue and orange dispenser. The items provide easy access to protection against an unwanted pregnancy and are free of charge.
Melissa Gruver, organizing director of the feminist organization Indiana Task FORCE, said it operates like a traditional vending machine.
"You just push whenever you want and it falls down, and you reach your hand through the little door and you pull it out, take it with you," Gruver explained.
A 2022 Indiana Department of Health Termination Report indicated 9,600 pregnancies were aborted, with Marion County recording the highest number of unwanted pregnancies. The report also noted the average age of a woman in Indiana who sought an abortion was 27, and 67% of all terminated pregnancies occurred within four to eight weeks of conception.
The state's contentious near-total abortion ban, which was upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court last year, has stoked fears lawmakers may begin restricting a woman's choice of birth control.
Indiana Task FORCE and reproductive health groups All-Options and the Midwest Access Coalition want the emergency contraceptive vending machine to serve as a gathering spot for community conversations on reproductive rights and sexual health.
"We've long been organizing our communities to bring about reproductive justice, which we didn't have before and we definitely don't have it now," Gruver pointed out. "But what we know to be true is that there are more of us that want access to reproductive care than those that try to stop it. We're excited to continue to work to meet this need now, and to organize for a better community."
Gruver hopes to have one dispenser in every Indiana region in the future to add to the single machine currently in an eastside Indianapolis grocery store. She added some universities in the state already have vending machines offering similar contraception products but users have to purchase the items.
This story is based on original reporting by Mary Claire Molloy for Mirror Indy.
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Nevada health-care providers, patients and advocates are responding to the U.S. Supreme Court case that'll determine the future of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
The federal law mandates Medicare-funded hospitals provide patients with stabilizing care in emergency situations, which include abortions.
Dr. Christine Miyake is an emergency physician with the Valley Health System in Las Vegas, and said abortions are sometimes a necessary part of health care.
"I saw a patient who ruptured her membranes early and developed a severe uterine infection," said Miyake. "She was dying from that infection. If they were not able to provide the abortion, she surely would have died - as no amount of antibiotics would've helped her."
Miyake said abortion bans around the country have driven physicians out of their respective states - causing hospitals to shut down their labor-maternity wards, making it harder for women to access what she called "basic pregnancy care."
In Nevada the right to an abortion is protected though state law, but an initiative petition is working to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution.
Laura Campbell is the director of the National Organization for Women's Nevada Chapter, and said she received lifesaving care while she was pregnant - and contended that EMTALA is key to protecting the very care that saved her life.
But anti-abortion proponents argue that state laws that ban abortion access can coexist with the federal law. Campbell disagreed.
"With total bans on abortions in neighboring states like Arizona, Utah, and Idaho," said Campbell, "there is no question that Nevadans deserve to have their abortion rights protected in the state constitution to ensure that no judge or politician can strip away the right to make their own health-care choices."
Eighty-six percent of the public supports protecting access to abortion for patients experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies, according to a recent KFF poll.
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The Missouri Legislature has approved a law to stop its Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet, from paying Planned Parenthood for medical services for Medicaid patients.
The decision follows a court ruling which found not reimbursing Planned Parenthood through Medicaid goes against Missouri's constitution.
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said they have joined forces with Planned Parenthood St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri and stand behind providing health care to those who need it. She argued the Legislature is causing confusion despite a clear decision from the highest court.
"Despite the court's repeatedly ruling that 'defunding' Planned Parenthood health centers is unconstitutional, lawmakers continue to deny critical care like birth control, cancer screenings, wellness exams and STI testing and treatment from the patients who need it," Wales stressed.
According to the Missouri Family Health Council, Planned Parenthood health centers serve nearly half of patients who rely on family planning safety net providers in the state. Planned Parenthood Great Plains and St. Louis Region Southwest Missouri will continue serving patients and is looking for alternative solutions for funding.
The new law also blocks Planned Parenthood from being a recognized provider in the state's Medicaid program. Wales pointed out it could hurt health care for people who rely on the safety net.
"There are not enough other providers in the health care safety-net system to absorb Planned Parenthood's patients," Wales pointed out. "At Planned Parenthood, we'll continue to do everything we can to serve our patients, no matter what."
Planned Parenthood Great Plains provides health care to more than 30,000 people in 13 health centers across Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. The St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri chapter has been serving for more than 90 years.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments today in a case about whether patients have access to emergency room abortions in states banning the procedure.
Idaho v. United States could determine if providers can perform medically necessary abortions for women experiencing complications under decades-old rules known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
Dr. Polly Wiltz, a second-year emergency medicine resident at University Hospitals in Cleveland, said she is worried about her ability to care for patients who need abortions, if protections end.
"We are putting ourselves at risk for allowing legislators -- allowing people who do not have medical training -- to pick and choose which procedures, which life-stabilizing treatments and medications can and cannot be applied in the emergency department," Wiltz pointed out. "It's infringing on patient rights."
The Center for American Progress said pregnant patients with severe complications who are denied abortions could develop severe sepsis requiring limb amputation, uncontrollable uterine hemorrhage requiring hysterectomy, kidney failure requiring lifelong dialysis, hypoxic brain injury and other severe conditions.
Wiltz added most of the patients with pregnancy complications coming into the hospital lack access to routine OBGYN-related care.
"Regarding pregnancy related complaints, I see first trimester pregnant patients every single day," Wiltz noted. "In my shift, I have caught ectopic pregnancies that have ruptured."
Hospitals made up 33% of the facilities providing abortions in 2020, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Last fall, a majority of Ohio voters chose to approve a constitutional amendment, "Issue 1," establishing a statewide right to abortion and reproductive care in the aftermath of the Roe versus Wade decision.
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