PRJKT RUBY is "revolutionizing the way women order birth control." Project Ruby is a subscription service that allows women everywhere to order birth control without needing to visit a doctor or any sort of prescription. This service is mostly useful for those who lack birth control and cannot afford doctor visits to acquire monthly birth control. This service works by asking a series of health questions to help diagnose which type of birth control. In my experience, they ask the exact same questions that my physical doctor's have asked and checked in the past for my own birth control. You are not required to acquire any sort of permission slip or doctor's approval. Project Ruby has doctors on staff who will review your form and decide whether or not birth control would be safe for their patrons.
Like any sort of service, there are both pros and cons to this service and they consist of:
Disadvantages.
By not visiting an actual doctor, you do not actually receive a yearly exam. This will make discovering many types of vaginal cancer and STDs much slower. By not having a physical examination, you may also not be prescribed the correct type of birth control for yourself. Many different types of "the pill" exist, and many of then carry some pretty gnarly side effects that all depend on your body and are not easily anticipated. Another downside is the service is $20 for each pack of pills. My old brand was around $13 without insurance, so it's a bit more expensive.
Advantages
By not needing to visit a doctor to acquire birth control each year, it can save women who lack insurance or full coverage insurance by no longer requiring them to pay a bill associated with visiting a doctor. It is also fairly convenient since the birth control is delivered right to your door, in confidential packaging, and you can sign up for an auto renew service so you'll never need to worry about filling a prescription again. You are also not required to pay for shipping, unless you want to order it express.
Project Ruby is quite controversial since it is giving women a way to not require to be checked to get a prescription, which could cause unknown health conditions to get worse over time. They still recommend you have your standard yearly exam and are aware of the dangers that could occur. They educate people on the same topics that a physical doctor would, and they also take a portion of the profit from all of their sales to donate birth control to those who cannot acquire it normally.
Project Ruby is a service that is attempting to be helpful to the community and is extremely convenient, but it is also a service that could easily be exploited. Do you think that Project Ruby is a service that should not continue? Or do you think it's a service that will help women more easily help themselves prevent pregnancy?
