A Minnesota bar is attracting national attention as the first tavern in the world to sell pregnancy tests.
The owner of Pub 500 in the college town of Mankato installed the vending machine, which sells the tests for $3, in early July in the women’s bathroom.
So far the machine has dispensed 12 tests. Tom Frederick, the bar’s proprietor, told the New York Times, “We thought it was a strange idea at first but very quickly came to the realization that this could be beneficial.”
The nonprofit Healthy Brains for Children group initially pitched the concept and installed the machine. Its mission is to lower the number of U.S. fetal alcohol syndrome cases.
So far the local response has been largely positive, citing the test’s privacy and low price. The main question raised by opponents is why a woman would be in a bar if she already suspected she was pregnant.
The CBS show “The Doctors” featured PUB 500 and its pregnancy test dispenser on Friday.