Because condoms and pills are old school, how can technology make sex safer?

Sex is great, but safer sex is even better.

Among our basic pleasures of life, sex is one of the top ones. I mean… Who doesn’t like sex? A little loving between the sheets always spices up your life. It even has been proven to have health benefits such as improved heart health, mood boosts, lower risk of cancer and stress. But like all good things, sex have cons too and one of the biggest risk is unintended pregnancy. In fact, an approximation of 44% of all pregnancies worldwide are “unintended”.

To prevent this from happening, one of the methods of contraception implemented was the birth control pill, which is still considered to be among the most popular and effective method. Therefore, women were given the role “to take charge with the reproductive destiny at the cost of their physical and mental well-being” by taking the contraceptive pill. Yet the contraceptive pill harms women’s bodies, there are possible side effects such as migraine and nausea, and the routine of taking the pill is tiring. It is a lifetime investment and responsibility women must take physically, mentally and even financially. As a woman myself, I will admit that this systematic behavior women need to adapt to, is truly irritating and somehow exhausting.

Although birth control pills greatly improved the past 50 years, it needs to be “upgraded” just like the pill revolutionize the methods of birth control years ago. The next generation of contraceptive methods with the use of technologies should shift to individualized solutions as it could minimize the side effects while optimizing the health and safety benefits. An interesting new contraceptive method in a form of a fertility awareness app recently came out on the market. It is the first non-hormonal and non-intrusive contraception, but if it's not hormonal and not intrusive, is it safe to use it?

An App to control your reproductive future?

Natural Cycles is the first digital birth control app to be classified as a medical device and certified by the FDA as a method of birth control with an efficiency claim of 93%. Natural Cycles helps prevent pregnancy or improve the chance of pregnancy by determining which days are risky to have unprotected sex by predicting ovulation, fertile and infertile days. They offer an effective and natural contraceptive method to women which can be personalized depending on different needs and priorities because “there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to contraception”. It is said that if the apo is used “perfectly”, it might even be more effective than other methods of contraception such as condoms and pills as it’s simple and hormone-free.

How does it work?
The $80 annual subscription for Natural Cycles comes with an oral thermometer for users to take their body temperature every morning and input information regarding their menstrual cycles. The digital birth control app relies on the different algorithms and basal body temperature of the user to accurately estimate the time of ovulation and the window of fertility. Women will then be notified of two different types of days: the red-fertile days which are risky days to have unprotected sex and green non-fertile days where unprotected sex is safe. Natural Cycles allows the users to know whether they should abstain from sex or use another contraceptive method such as condom or whether they have the green light to have unprotected sex.

Results

Natural Cycles have now more than 900.000 users willing to use the digital birth control. As shown on their website, women have been thrilled using this new method of contraception as they can learn from their bodies and it plays a more equal role in their relationships. However, it heavily backfired after dozen women got pregnant.

To get a better insight, a survey has been conducted at IE among 14 women, mostly between 18 and 24 years old. Two women are using condoms compared to 11 women who either only use the oral contraceptive pill or combines the pill with condoms. Most women showed to be “somewhat satisfied” with their current contraception methods, this shows there is lots of room for improvement. Yet, when asked the extent of their willingness to try a digital birth control, the results showed to be slightly more negative. This can be assumed it is because of the lack of information and the lack in trust of having an app to control your reproductive future. In fact, only 50% of the women heard about Natural Cycles. However, what came up interesting from the survey is their interest and openness to try new technologies as a form of contraceptive methods, even though women are “somehow satisfied” with their contraception methods and are less likely to use a digital app.

But why are women the only ones who need to take the responsibility of the contraception? In fact, 50% of the women want male to have methods of contraception. After a half a century, where are the new solutions for male? Stay tuned for the next article where we will discuss the new contraceptive methods for male.

Source

• https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/natural-birth-control-app-dogged-by-unwanted-pregnancies-gets-fda-approval/
• https://www.naturalcycles.com/en/contraception/stories/
• https://degrees.fhi360.org/2018/02/building-the-case-for-contraceptive-technology-innovation/
• https://www.businessinsider.com/birth-control-app-problems-natural-cycles-2018-1?IR=T
• https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/17/natural-cycles-contraception-app-told-to-clarify-pregnancy-risks/
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/natural-cycles-tech-contraception-condoms-coil-pill-birth-control
• http://time.com/5365564/fertility-apps-contraception/
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/natural-cycles-tech-contraception-condoms-coil-pill-birth-control
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/24/women-birth-control-smartphone-apps-contraception-technology