Contraceptive App Hit With Complaints After Allegedly Causing 37 Unwanted Pregnancies

The contraceptive app Natural Cycles, which tracks your fertility cycle and tells you what days you don’t need protection, has been hit with a complaint after 37 women in Sweden reported unwanted pregnancies due to using the app.

The Swedish broadcaster SVT reports that the Södersjukhuset hospital in Stockholm, where the 37 women received abortions, reported the app to the Swedish regulator MPA (the Medical Product Agency.) “It’s a new method and we see a number of unwanted pregnancies, so we are reporting this to the Medical Products Agency,” a midwife at the hospital told the news outlet.

Natural Cycles cites a typical use efficacy of 93 percent and was actually certified by the EU last year as an official form of birth control. The company told the website The Verge that they are in contact with the MPA regarding every individual case in Sweden and said they were conducting an internal investigation with their clinical department.

“At first sight, the numbers mentioned in the media are not surprising given the popularity of the app and in line with our efficacy rates,” Natural Cycles wrote in a statement. “As our user base increases, so will the amount of unintended pregnancies coming from Natural Cycles app users, which is an inevitable reality.”