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New Apps Let Women Obtain Birth Control Without Visiting a Doctor
HughPickens.com writes: With nearly 40 percent of all pregnancies in the United States unintended, birth control is a critical public health issue. For short-term methods, visiting the doctor for a prescription can be time-consuming and sometimes costly and for some, like teenagers, it can be intimidating or embarrassing. Now Pam Belluck reports at the NYT that a growing assortment of new apps and websites now make it possible to get prescription contraceptives without going to the doctor as public health experts hope the new apps will encourage more women to start, or restart, using contraception and help reduce the country's stubbornly high rate of unintended pregnancies, as well as the rate of abortions. At least six digital ventures, by private companies and nonprofits, including Planned Parenthood, now provide prescriptions written by clinicians after women answer questions about their health online or by video. All prescribe birth control pills, and some prescribe patches, rings and morning-after pills and some ship contraceptives directly to women's doors. "At first I didn't believe it," said Susan Hashem, who wanted to restart birth control pills without missing work for a doctor's appointment. Hashem used an app called Lemonaid and paid $15 for a doctor to review her medical information and send a pill prescription to a local pharmacy. "I thought it was just a setup to get money," Hashem said. But after she answered the health questions one evening, "a doctor actually contacted me after office hours," and the next morning, she picked up three months' worth of pills.
the last time I threw out my back I had to go see a doc for flexeril. The drive was incredibly painful and the entire thing only served to put $200 bucks in the guys pocket. It was literally less than useless. Add to that the cost keeps a lot of low income people away from meds they already know they need. Mix this with an online pharmacy and people the the deep South surrounded by Bible thumpers trying to keep them away from the evils of Birth Control can finally live the way they want.
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I'm strongly in favor of overall greater access to birth control. But I have to say that when it comes to starting any kind of hormonal birth control, I'm uneasy about the idea of doing so without the supervision of a doctor or other medical professional.
In my case I had to go through three different types of pills before I found a pill that worked well for me. The first two left me, well, hormonal and while it wasn't terrible, it also wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially compared to how much better things were once I finally found a pill that worked. There are a number of different pills on the market for a reason; not everyone responds to a given formulation the same way. And this is where the doctor was a great help, as she was able to tell me what was and wasn't normal, use my experiences to suggest other options. I suppose from a technical perspective any pill will do - they all seem to pause fertility - but the side effects can be a real pain.
This is why I'm uneasy about anyone starting a new birth control regimen without supervision. Certainly once you're established and happy, you should be able to get new packs as you please (including ordering extra for trips and such). And this is definitely something that needs to be fixed as it's harder than it should be. But starting without a physician seems like a poor idea to me. I feel like it's doing a disservice to others who will be lead to think the processes is easier than it actually is.
Now for the question: Why is birth control supposed to be necessary?
it's not necessary, it's desired. people like to be able to determine what they are going to do with their life instead being slaves to biological processes. if you disagree with this then you should never take any medications ever even if it's to save your life because it's changing "the natural order of things".
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Mix this with an online pharmacy and people the the deep South surrounded by Bible thumpers trying to keep them away from the evils of Birth Control can finally live the way they want.
Big difference between how they want and how they should.
Quick question: How should they live, and what's your authority for making that judgement?
So is waging war and letting people live on the street, but you don't see many right wingers demand ending that.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It may surprise you, but there are women out there who choose to not have a child and still want to fuck. Guess what, they are human beings and want to enjoy life.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
There is exactly one reference to abortion in the bible. It's in Numbers 5, and it details the process for performing an abortion if you believe your wife has been unfaithful.
You know, sometimes one of the two people doesn't have a choice in the matter.
It's pretty straightforward, having a child in the US is a really bad deal. No guaranteed maternity leave, day care that costs more than one parent's entire salary, relatively little government support that people shame you for even trying to take advantage of, etc. Not to mention the fact that it sets back your career for years and is not exactly a pleasant process, physically, for the mother.
Having children, to a point, is a long-term benefit to society but so many people vocally resent having their money spent to help with the burden that goes along with children. Any discussion of maternity leave will have tons of people saying things like, "why do you get time off for having a baby and I don't get time off because I choose not to." Bottom line, people are too selfish.
Yeah, the U.S. was at complete peace during the previous administration then as soon as Obama came into office it was 8 years of solid war. The Republicans tried to stop it every step of the way but boy Obama is just a warmonger.
Meanwhile back on planet Earth, the US has been tangled up in the middle east (this time) since well before Obama was elected - I suppose you conveniently forgot which party was in power then, no?
there are women out there who choose to not have a child and still want to fuck
I can think of one group of women like that. Whores. Prostitutes. What other ones can you think of?
A) Everyone else.
And a question for you: what is wrong with you that you think women enjoying sex fall into the category of "Whores"? And you even needed to repeat the point: "Prostitutes".
They're a far better class of person than you are, sir.
And then you could add that the life expectancy in Cuba is higher than the U.S., and the infant mortality is lower.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/1...
A Different Model -- Medical Care in Cuba
Edward W. Campion, M.D., and Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2013; 368:297-299
January 24, 2013
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1215226
This highly structured, prevention-oriented system has produced positive results. Vaccination rates in Cuba are among the highest in the world. The life expectancy of 78 years from birth is virtually identical to that in the United States. The infant mortality rate in Cuba has fallen from more than 80 per 1000 live births in the 1950s to less than 5 per 1000 â" lower than the U.S. rate, although the maternal mortality rate remains well above those in developed countries and is in the middle of the range for Caribbean countries.3,4 Without doubt, the improved health outcomes are largely the result of improvements in nutrition and education, which address the social determinants of health. Cuba's literacy rate is 99%, and health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum. A recent national program to promote acceptance of men who have sex with men was designed in part to reduce rates of sexually transmitted disease and improve acceptance of and adherence to treatment. Cigarettes can no longer be obtained with monthly ration cards, and smoking rates have decreased, though local health teams say it remains difficult to get smokers to quit. Contraception is free and strongly encouraged. Abortion is legal but is seen as a failure of prevention.
Everything has ups and downs.
Is a falling population a tragedy.
Lower costs of education, childcare, probably crime...
The cost of supporting 'old people' in terms of healthcare and retirement based on younger workers sounds like a reason to have more kids... but last I checked, jobs in general are a problem in most countries.
It's not magical young people that pay taxes... it's young people with good jobs.
And if the government is going to be spending money to create jobs for young people and stimulate the economy, are you really in any worse position to just spend that money taking care of old people directly.
You have issues with a falling population. But it's not kind of automatic crises. Certain industries will face problems. There are powerful lobbies as well.... banking, housing, mortgages... that depend on population growth as well.
Better education trumps technical advancement. Who would have thought.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"Europeans are off the chart left. Socialism will never work."
Your fire and car insurance seem to do just fine with such a socialist ideas, so does the US postal system, military defense, highways, fire department, bridges, garbage collection, public libraries (Those are large houses of stone where people go to read stuff)
and a few dozen other ones.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/...