Kiosks are popping up in universities around central Wisconsin that provide birth control pills, patches and condoms to students.

The machine, dubbed Access to Contraceptive Care electronic Services System, or ACCeSS, are "not vending machines," according to Lon Newman, executive director of the Wisconsin Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.

Obtaining contraceptives through the machines requires more than depositing quarters and receiving pills.

Newman said the machines actually enroll patrons in the Medicaid Family Planning Services program, which covers health care expenses. Any person who qualifies for the government-funded Medicaid program, is eligible.

A woman uses the kiosk by entering data such as her Social Security number, income and contact information. Later, a nurse calls and sends the contraceptives.

Newman said the entire process takes "a couple days," depending on when the nurse and user are able to make contact.

There are four kiosks located in central Wisconsin. Three are located on college campuses, including the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County, Mid-State Technical College in Stevens Point and Northcentral Technical College in Wausau. A fourth kiosk is at the Family Planning Health Services in Wausau.

Although kiosks are located at other schools, students at Marquette should not expect to see the ACCeSS machines on campus.

Ben Tracy, director of university communication, said to his knowledge, a proposal for an ACCeSS machine has never come up.

"It would never be seriously entertained," he said.

Keli Wollmer, physician assistant at Student Health Service, agrees. SHS is required "to follow the Jesuit, Catholic philosophy of the university."

Newman said the kiosks are intended for people between the ages of 15 and 44. However, most people who have access to ACCeSS are over 15.

"The average age of students at Northcentral College is 32, not 15," Newman said.

He emphasized that the goal of the machines was not to cut health clinics out of the process for obtaining contraceptives. Rather, the idea is "to get the woman contraceptive care she needs right away and then get her to a health care provider," he said.

Health care providers at Marquette do not offer birth control through ACCeSS kiosks or any other method. Wollmer said SHS does encounter students seeking birth control.

Although SHS cannot prescribe contraceptives unless used for other medicinal purposes, Wollmer said they can provide OB-GYN referrals.

According to Newman though, someday Marquette students may not have to go too far to pursue contraceptives from a kiosk.

"I would like very much to get a kiosk down in the Milwaukee area at a Milwaukee campus to show folks what it really is and have another voice heard," Newman said. He said another possibility was to have a kiosk that moves to different locations so the program could receive more publicity.

Some students, however, are skeptical of the machines.

"I personally wouldn't use one of those machines," said Julie Riederer, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. "If you need to be on birth control, you should see a doctor."