
Planned Parenthood App Helps You Choose Birth Control
April 18, 2014
Planned Parenthood has come out with a series of new apps, designed to educate young people about sexual health and sexuality topics. (We recently blogged about their Been There, Done That app.) I took a look at their My Birth Control app, which helps you decide which birth control method is best for you. This is a great idea because there are so many birth control methods out there.
The app has you answer a series of questions about your age and what factors matter most to you when choosing a birth control method—such as privacy, how effective it is and STD prevention. The app then asks you if you’ve heard of certain birth control methods, such as the Pill, the Patch and the IUD, and whether these methods fit with how you see yourself. It also asks if you have health insurance, because thanks to the Affordable Care Act most types of birth control are available at no cost if you have insurance. Once you answer those questions, the app gives you a list of three birth control methods to compare with what you want most from birth control. You can also watch videos on all the methods to learn more.
This app is a great way to learn about different birth control methods and figure out which one is best for you. The app does such a great job of introducing different birth control methods that I found myself wishing it gave even more in-depth information. It would be cool if the app had a feature to compare different brands of birth control. For example, there are three types of IUDs—Skyla, which lasts for three years; Mirena, which lasts five years; and ParaGard, which lasts for ten years and doesn’t contain hormones.
Overall, this app is a very useful tool to figure out which type of birth control you should use. The questions take into account what you personally want from your birth control and how much you know about different types, so that you are left with choices that fit your lifestyle and needs. Check out the My Birth Control app and let me know what you think in the comments!
Posted In: Birth Control
Tags: birth control | technology | Planned Parenthood | smartphone