Take it, Or Leave It: Birth Control via an App??
There’s this one influencer I follow who I absolutely LOVE. Her style is amazing, her photoshoots are always beautiful and creative, and she gets really real with her followers. She often posts photos of herself without any makeup or filters to show that life on Instagram is so different than in real life. She has almost 200k followers and it’s clear that all of them really trust her and take what she says to heart.
via Natural Cycles
Recently, she posted a sponsored post about an app called Natural Cycles. In the caption, she wrote “Natural Cycles is an app that helps you track your cycle in order to either prevent or plan a pregnancy. You measure your temp first thing in the morning before you get out of bed and enter it into your app- then, the app tracks the changes and predicts your day/s of ovulation. Right now, I’m using #naturalcycles as a means of hormone-free birth control.” She adds a disclaimer to say “it’s 93% effective with typical use, for 18+ and doesn’t protect against STIs.”
This caption really threw me for a loop. An app used as birth control? I totally understand using something like that when you’re trying to conceive, but using it to prevent a pregnancy just sounds irresponsible. I was appalled to see that someone who has so much influence over hundreds of thousands of people would promote something like this. All through high school, I was repeatedly taught that the pull-out method is just not effective, even if you’re tracking your cycle. But what about those who weren’t offered sex-ed in their school or are still too young to be fully educated about practicing safe sex? People who don’t know any better will trust her words and could end up with an unplanned pregnancy.
I decided to do more research. According to an article published by NBC last year, “this type of natural family planning is far from foolproof, with as many as 24 in 100 women who practice it as birth control getting pregnant in the first year.” However, apparently Natural Cycles was approved by the FDA as a form of contraception! I was blown away when I heard this. OB-GYNs all around the country were also surprised to learn the news, “saying that women who want to avoid pregnancy should use any fertility app with extreme caution. A 93 percent efficacy is low in comparison with other birth control options.” This efficacy rate was also calculated from a controlled study where participants were using the app very carefully and accurately. In the real world, people aren’t perfect. Even the slightest mistake made in logging your information can lead to pregnancy. This just goes to show that even though something is approved by the FDA, it doesn’t mean it’s completely safe and effective.
Planned Parenthood instead recommends using these types of apps in conjunction with another form of birth control to better understand your cycle so you can spot any discrepancies very early on, and increase the efficacy of your birth control method even more. When used alone, there’s so much room for error that most doctors will be very weary recommending an app as a form of birth control. Not to mention it doesn’t protect against STIs. Condoms are the safest form of birth control that can prevent pregnancies and diseases.
My final word on the matter is this: I’m all for hormone-free birth control and I understand if someone’s religious beliefs prevent them from using other forms of birth control. However, I don’t believe an app is a safe or effective form of birth control and while it’s exciting that the technology for tracking your ovulation exists, I find a major issue with an influencer promoting this form of birth control to all of her followers.
Cover image via Maternita