Planned Parenthood’s New App Could Change How You Get Your Birth Control

With the ever-increasing restrictions on reproductive care, Planned Parenthood has launched Planned Parenthood Care, an online service that can be accessed through their Android, IOS, or web apps.

The service connects users with a Planned Parenthood clinician through a video chat. During the chat, the user has the opportunity to discuss which form of contraception they’re interested in. Once the user and the clinician come to a decision, the birth control will be mailed directly to the user’s doorstep. The consultation costs $45 and lasts about 15 minutes. While this might not be the ideal way to connect with a provider, for some individuals, the convenience and safety afforded by this new service makes it a very attractive option.

While the service is currently only available to residents of Minnesota and Washington, they do hope to expand their services to additional states.

Their website includes a comprehensive frequently-asked-questions section, which includes questions like, “Why do I need to use video?” “What are the hours of operation?” and “How do I start my visit?”

While new for Planned Parenthood, an increasing number of medical providers have been involved with providing virtual consultations for some time. For Planned Parenthood, this move is part of a broader plan to stay current with the times.

“Every generation of women is different from their mothers, and what’s different about the current generation of young women is that they live a whole lot of their lives online,” Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “We don’t want to be our mother’s Planned Parenthood, we want to be our daughter’s Planned Parenthood. This is one of the many ways we’re doing just that.”