Recently, the British Medical Journal published a study using self-reported data from women who had opted to get an abortion.

It found a “shift” towards increased use of “fertility awareness-based methods” of contraception, like tracking your period on an app and avoiding sex on the days the app tells you is your “fertile period”, among participants.

The topic of fertility awareness-based methods, which may include the use of apps, have certainly performed well on social media sites.

But Alice Pelton, CEO and founder of sexual and reproductive health company The Lowdown, doesn’t think this data is as straightforward as it can sometimes be presented.

On LinkedIn, she stated some issues she had with the way the information is being shared, stressing that among other issues, the real “shift” was not the small but notable uptick in women using fertility tracking methods as contraception (up 1.1%), but rather the far sharper rise of women eschewing any contraception at all (up 14%).

So, HuffPost UK spoke to the founder about her thoughts.

Period cycle apps aren’t meant to be used for fertility tracking

The CEO told HuffPost UK: “Anecdotally we know that women are using tracking apps like Flo and Clue as a contraceptive, and at The Lowdown we think it’s important that more women and healthcare professionals are aware........

© HuffPost