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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Former President Donald Trump claims abortion will be "a very small issue" for voters this November but New Hampshire Democrats disagree.
Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion remains accessible in the state up to 24 weeks with exceptions, although the GOP-led Senate blocked an effort to legally protect those rights earlier this year.
Kathleen Sullivan, former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, is convinced voters will not forget.
"It's an issue in our governor's race, an issue in our legislative races," Sullivan observed. "It's going to continue to be a major issue in New Hampshire and, I think, across the country."
Trump said he supports the rights of states to make their own policies. A recent poll of New Hampshire voters finds abortion ranks third in importance behind the economy and immigration.
Abortion-rights amendments will be on the ballot in at least six states this election. Signatures have been submitted for ballot measures in at least four more. Already, voters in six other states have overwhelmingly backed abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned, including conservative-leaning Kansas.
Sullivan said her party's nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris and her strong support of reproductive rights has reignited Democrats' enthusiasm for the race.
"It was like a tonic, I think, everybody just got very excited," Sullivan noted. "There's just a real burst of energy among not only young people, but all voters for the Harris-Waltz ticket."
Sullivan added there has been an increase in small-dollar donations to the state party and volunteers. Trump held a slight lead over President Joe Biden in New Hampshire prior to his decision to leave the race. In some polls, Harris now leads Trump by at least four points.
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A Wyoming district judge is expected to decide a case over a state law which would ban abortions with few exceptions.
The "Life is a Human Right Act" claims abortion is not health care but it could contradict a constitutional amendment Wyoming voters passed in 2012, largely in opposition to Obama's Affordable Care Act, which reads: "Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions."
Marcie Kindred, field organizer and communications director for the group Wyoming United for Freedom, said Wyomingites have long valued limited government.
"We have always been a traditional live and let live state," Kindred explained. "These complex, deeply personal health care decisions belong only to women, their doctors, their families and their chosen faith."
The state supreme court declined to hear the case in April. The same district judge deciding this case will also decide on Gov. Gordon's first-in-the-country measure to ban abortion pills.
Wyoming United for Freedom was formed at the end of last year, Kindred noted, when other abortion advocacy groups were overwhelmed with work following the overturning of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion.
Abortion access will not be on the Wyoming ballot this November but Kindred pointed out the group is preparing for action in several scenarios, including if the judge decides the constitution protects the right to abortion.
"We will still need to organize to defend against attacks on reproductive freedom from our legislature," Kindred stressed. "And make sure that we are electing people that will protect those rights."
In Wyoming, citizens can initiate amendments to state statutes but only the legislature has the power to introduce measures to change the state's constitution. Opponents of abortion rights want to see the Dobbs case upheld.
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Vice President Kamala Harris focused on reproductive rights at a campaign event in Michigan Wednesday.
Her remarks come as President Joe Biden has fallen behind former President Donald Trump in the state, according to the latest polls. In front of a crowd of hundreds, Harris stressed abortion rights are at risk if Republicans win in November. She said Biden has vowed to veto any attempts to ban abortion nationwide.
"We believe in freedom. Freedom from the government telling us what to do about matters of heart and home," Harris explained. "We believe in the right of people to make basic decisions, like when and if they will start a family and how."
Meanwhile, Trump's pick for vice president, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has supported national abortion bans and opposed exceptions for rape and incest. Democrats are hoping the distinction will lead them to a victory this year in the key battleground state of Michigan. It was a critical issue for voters in 2022, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won her reelection race easily and both chambers of the state legislature flipped to Democrats for the first time in decades.
In her speech, Harris condemned political violence following the recent attempted shooting of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania political rally. She also praised the gun safety measures Michigan lawmakers passed in recent years, including universal background checks and safe storage requirements. She added politicians in Washington, D.C., should favor similar laws.
"The solutions don't really require that much creativity," Harris asserted. "What they do require is people in the United States Congress to have courage to act and do what we know is the right thing to do and not cower, based on special interests and powerful lobbyists."
One Michigan Democrat in Congress, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, has called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race over concerns about his age and cognitive ability. Harris would likely be a top replacement choice in the race against Trump.
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