There you are trying desperately to remember one another's real names in an awkward silence.
Halloween got too lit, and now you're both just sitting there, mind hazed, stomach churning from the fallout of mixing liquors. You're not alone; and this won't be the last time this will happen, either. It's so you.
Just know that now there are options. Emergency options, even. With a new app, last chance birth control is now available for delivery and is as easy as it was getting that ride from Jerry with 5 stars to the party.
It's called Nurx, and it's looking to shake up family planning by making emergency contraception (and normal contraception, too) exceptionally easy. Just like ordering a pizza, taking control of your reproductive rights is as simpe as signing up and then waiting for science's sweet release to make you whole again.
Step 1: Download the Nurx app
Step 2: Choose the stuff you need.
Step 3: Input your info.
Step 4: Go have more fun.
Yet the company offers more potential than just relieving stresses of having too much fun the night you forgot to protect the extracurricular activities. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, some 20 million women in America don't have access to reliable birth control — those areas dubbed "contraceptive deserts." Having an option such as Nurx bypasses the inconvenient trips to the clinic and provides safety, accuracy and — most importantly for some — secrecy when shopping for contraception.
"If a woman has to travel three counties away to access the method of contraception that is right for her, that creates a lot of barriers, especially for women who are living on limited income or below the poverty line," said Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of the D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to NBC News. Telemedicine, as it's called, is able to reach anyone with an address or P.O. Box as easy as Amazon or those ads in the mail everyone throws away anyway.
Though of course it isn't without controversy. Dudes on the right claim it's making emergency contraception too easy to get without any proper regulations in place (even though clients interact with doctors on the app and have medical history verified before anything is sent out).
"That is where our criticism comes in," says John Seago, legislative director for the Texas Right to Life political action committee. "The app is a very simplistic system, which for any public health issue, at the end of the day, if you're prescribing something that the FDA regulates through a series of 'yes' or 'no' questions, that's obviously a public health concern."
Which doesn't mean much. Seago is part of the party that wants to go back to lunar moon cycles (no shit) to calculate when women should be having sex. The "Calendar Method," as it's sometimes called, is a tactic where women track their periods to pinpoint exactly when they're menstruating to avoid sexual contact — kind of like they did in the 1200s. Aside from the other obvious problems, this strategy fails women over 25 percent of the time.
For the rest of you not into black magic or aggressively avoiding haunted fertility statues, Nurx could very well be you and your partner(s) new best friend. Go get 'em tiger.
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