Hello fellow cat ladies!
Welcome to the second edition of Pill Pop Culture, where I tell you everything that has happened in the world of Birth Control! I’m still workshopping the name so if you hate it or have a better idea I’m open to suggestions! I skipped last week because not much had happened and I’m glad I did. The news about Flo broke 2 days ago and I wanted that to have the first spot because it’s important for anyone who uses or has used that app to know. If you haven’t taken your daily pill, take it now! And while you’re washing it down with a glass of water or your iced coffee, enjoy a newsletter about birth control.
🩸Flo (period tracking app) proven to be collecting user data & sharing with Meta
This week a jury ruled against Meta in a privacy-related lawsuit involving the alleged collection of sensitive data from Flo, a period-tracking app. Apparently, Flo has been sharing user data with Meta and Google for a long time, despite promising users their data was private and secure.
I’ve used Flo before and I’m disgusted by this information. The amount of times I have seen Flo advertise itself as a safe and private way to track your period, only for them to turn around and give that information straight to Zuckerberg. I think it’s gross and nefarious for anyone to even WANT women’s menstrual information. What could they possibly be using it for?
I can think of a thousand different possibilities, but some are much much more disgusting than others. On one hand, it could be used to show women ads for tampons and pain relief options while they’re on their period. On the other, it could be used as evidence in a criminalized abortion case.
Shame on you, Flo. Shame on Meta and google and anyone else attempting to spy on women using our cycles. If you have Flo downloaded or use it to track your period, consider switching. Personally I love YourComma, a period tracking website. Because it’s a website, they don’t have to follow any of Apple’s app store rules and it’s easier for them to protect your data. You can also go with the good old-fashioned method of using the moon. The moon has never shared my data with Meta.
🌎 WalletHub ranks the best and worst states to have a baby
If you live in Mississippi… you might want to sit this one out.
Based on metrics like cost, maternal and infant mortality rates, and access to support groups, the 51 states were ranked according to the best place in America to have children. In the top 3 spots are Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Minnesota according to factors like medical staff availability, babysitter cost, and access to healthcare options. Nevada, Alabama, and Mississippi claimed the bottom 3 spots because of their high infant and maternal mortality rates and high cost of healthcare. These bottom states, on average, were more than 3x more expensive for a conventional, non-complicated delivery. They also had less pediatricians per capita.
I live in California, which is ranked 31st on this list. I’m (obviously) not planning on having kids, but if I was, I would probably have to genuinely consider moving to one of the higher ranked states to do it. Just based on the calculations of the average cost of a conventional birth, it can make the difference of tens of thousands of dollars.
If you’d like to check out your own state, the color coded map is here. There’s also an interactive map on the NewsWeek website.
👩💻 New Gen-Z survey reveals risky birth control preferences
Uh oh… Y’all are in trouble with me this week🤨🤨🤨
Apparently y’all aren’t listening to me when I tell you to TAKE YOUR BIRTH CONTROL. According to a new survey, 37% of those born 1997-2012 prefer the PULL OUT method… hello? What are we doing? 20% of people who rely on the pull out method become pregnant, and 60% of Gen-z says they’ve taken a pregnancy test before. 83% said they felt informed about sex education and agreed that people should have the right to access contraception… and yet we are using the PULL OUT METHOD? Guys. WE KNOW BETTER THAN THIS!!!
The average zoomer said they believed 28 was the right age to start having kids. That’s higher than the national average… but I fear some of y’all are not going to make it that long 😫😫😫 !!
TAKE YOUR BIRTH CONTROL!!! BUY YOURSELF A SHIRT THAT SAYS TAKE YOUR BIRTH CONTROL IF YOU NEED A REMINDER!! YEAH I SELL THOSE!!
🌏 China announces monthly childcare subsidy in an attempt to boost fertility rates
Would you have a kid for $42 a month? That’s what China is offering for the first 3 years of a child’s life. That’s a total of $1,512. This news comes just a few months after the Trump administration considered offering an upfront payment of $5k for each birth in the US. It’s a measly amount, especially considering the high cost of living and childcare. I highly doubt this is going to make the difference China hopes it will make. However, it does signal a DRAMATIC switch from the one child policy from not that long ago. Families used to be FINED for unauthorized births. As a result, and because they highly favored male babies over female babies and now there is a significant gender gap, the fertility rate in China has fallen to as low as .4 babies per woman in some districts.
In my opinion, you’re going to have to do a lot better than $42 a month for women to want to put their bodies and their careers at risk right now. Increase paid maternal leave, offer affordable childcare options, make the cost of giving birth free. All of that is going to cost a LOT MORE than $42.
🔥Trump Administration set to burn almost 10 million dollars worth of contraception
The Trump administration is planning to burn 9.7 Million dollars with of contraceptives intended for women in poor nations, instead of donating them or seeking them to someone willing to distribute them.
A stockpile of IUDs, implants, and birth control pills meant for women in conflict zones and refugee camps has been sitting in a warehouse in Germany ever since Trump administration budget cuts to foreign assistance. Despite efforts from various organizations including Planned Parenthood and humanitarian groups in Europe, the administration has decided incinerate the products.
This is yet another blatant attack on sexual and reproductive health due to the ideological bias of the right. Especially at a time where there are hundreds of thousands of women in Gaza who have had little to no access to tampons, pads, or any other reproductive health products for many months. It is absolutely devastating to me that the Trump administration would choose incineration instead of distribution.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/29/europe/usaid-contraceptives-burn-belgium-france-intl
🤰Pete Davidson is gonna be a dad!
High-profile divorcees have been heard wailing in despair as Pete Davidson announces his girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, is pregnant.
Whenever a high-profile A-Lister announces a pregnancy, I know I’m going to go into overdrive combatting the internet’s baby-fever. For the next 9 months and far beyond, we’ll be getting plenty of baby bump red carpet looks and intimate interviews asking Pete if he is prepared to change diapers. It’s not something that will illicit any baby fever from me, but there are plenty of Pete and Elsie lovers out there who will be keeping up with the pregnancy. I’ll be prepared 🫡
That’s it for the past 2 weeks! I’m enjoying putting these together and at least 2 of you are enjoying reading them, so I’ll keep it going. Thinking about turning these into some sort of YouTube thing or maybe just a short form TikTok. Let me know your thoughts if you have any! Thanks for reading, see you in the next edition of Pill Pop Culture or whatever I decide to call this consistently. Take your birth control!
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