MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ask any woman, and they’ll tell you getting birth control can sometimes be a hassle.
“Having such busy lifestyles these days, you know, it’s one last thing I have to worry about,” said Nicole Quinomes, who uses birth control.
In Tennessee, you have to go to a clinic every year to get a prescription, which can be costly and time consuming.
Some women don’t have transportation either.
Now, a new company out of California wants to make the process seamless by using telemedicine to get hormonal birth control on-demand.
NURX designed an app where all you have to do is answer the same questions you would at a clinic.
A doctor looks over the information through a secure messaging system, fills out the prescription and then the pill, patch or ring is sent to your doorstep in as little as 24 hours.
The service and shipping is free if you have insurance.
“It’s by no means an online shopping mall for birth control. There is a very much interaction between the user and the doctor. They have access to the doctor via secured messaging or by phone,” said the company’s co-founder.
He said the app is only available in California right now, but they’re looking to launch the service in Tennessee.
They said they’ll follow the same rules doctors here abide by, like not giving a prescription to anyone under 13 unless there’s parental consent.
“Women and families need more and more ways to access contraception,” said Nikcole Gettings who works at Choices.
It’s a non-profit health care clinic in Midtown.
Gettings said interacting with doctors over technology isn’t new, but getting birth control is.
Critics are afraid women who use an app to get birth control would stop going to the doctor to get their yearly exam.
NURX said it will remind women how important that is.
“I think each woman has their own unique circumstances that may make it easy or hard to get birth control, but everyone should have that access,” said Annika Gage, a birth control user.
