While our representatives in the legislative branch are deciding how much the government should regulate female bodies, apps that provide women with birth control are quietly gaining popularity.
These apps provide prescription birth control and information to women without having to go to the doctor. With places like Planned Parenthood that provide women’s health services under threat from government, I think apps like Nurx, Virtuwell and Lemonaid, to name a few, might just salvage the condition of women’s health in the United States.
There are currently six different digital projects run by private companies, nonprofits and Planned Parenthood. Because these apps and websites have spawned on the internet, they have existed under the radar from regulation.
All of these digital undertakings provide birth control prescriptions by clinicians for women when they answer questions about their health through video or online.
Some of these birth control ventures accept insurance or Medicaid and have minimal charges for women without insurance or Medicaid. Some of these ventures can also send the prescriptions to local pharmacies so women can have an easier time obtaining their prescription with insurance. Some of these companies even ship birth control to women’s houses.
Female bodies and health is constantly up for debate in Congress, so apps like these are a savior. Many public health experts think these apps will help reduce the incredibly high rate of unintended pregnancies in the U.S.
Almost 40 percent of the pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. In order to help this number go down, birth control is an absolute essential for public health. If these apps allow women to control their family planning, the rate of abortion will also go down.
These online health providers also give women a private way to obtain their prescriptions and information. For teenagers and women that might be embarrassed or in danger if their partners or parents knew about their birth control, these apps are protective as well.
The Obama Administration’s attempt to expand birth control access by requiring all health plans to provide birth control has been met with terrible controversy and opposition from conservatives. The push to have birth control over the counter has also been met with conservative backlash.
For now, these apps and websites are providing women with vital birth control at a low price without much attention from government or conservatives. When every attempt to help women control their family planning is thwarted or delayed by debate and legal action, it’s nice to see these health providers take charge and create a new avenue to help curtail the dire need for women’s health care in the U.S.
rcm2@umail.iu.edu
@RachelCMiller1
