An App That Is As Effective As Birth Control

I was very surprised when I came across an article in Business Insider about an app that is as effective as the birth control pill. I thought I may be misunderstanding the title; perhaps the app just reminded people to use birth control.

This was not the case. There is an app that has went through a clinical study that showed it is as effective as birth control. As shocked as I was initially, this is a great reminder of the amazing powers of data science.

The app has the user take the temperature under their tongue every morning. Based on that temperature, the algorithm calculates whether or not the user is fertile that day. If the user is fertile that day, the app advises them to use protection.

This is so cool! I am not a medical professional, but it is my understanding that there are certain times of the month when people are more likely to get pregnant. However, the sex education that I have been exposed to thus far never endorsed having unprotected sex on a day when one is less likely to get pregnant. It is nice to see data science take things one step further and predict the risk of pregnancy with greater accuracy. It is very cool to see the intersection of multiple fields and this app could end up being great news for people who cannot take birth control pills for various reasons. It reminds me how tech can be used to solve problems in ways we would never imagine and reminds me why I love being a part of the tech world.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and am not advising anyone to stop taking birth control or using other forms of protection. I also do not know the details of the clinical study that proved this app's effectiveness.