Natural Cycles may be flawed, but contraception apps are still the future | Nichi Hodgson

Decades of research have gone into condoms, the coil and the pill – we need to give next-generation birth control a chance

• Natural Cycles app: ‘highly accurate contraceptive’ claim misled consumers

It’s with a heavy heart that I’ve paused my subscription to the contraceptive app Natural Cycles this week. It follows the news that the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that the app cannot with confidence advertise itself as a “highly accurate contraceptive”, primarily because the statistics on its efficacy – that only seven in 100 women using it will become pregnant – come from a study conducted by the company that developed the app itself.

Natural Cycles promotes itself as a form of non-hormonal, non-intrusive contraception. Women input information about their menstrual cycles and body temperature into the app, and it uses algorithms to predict which days they are at risk of getting pregnant in the event of unprotected sex.

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from US news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2PS6Bf2