Website Spotlight: Bedsider.org

Bedsider.org, the award-winning birth control website for those 18-29 years-old, has created a Spanish edition to better serve its Latina audience. Now, Spanish-speaking women have an online birth control resource that has been shown through careful, independent evaluation to help women avoid unplanned pregnancies.

Nearly 6 in 10 pregnancies among unmarried young Hispanic women age 20-29 are described by women themselves as unplanned. Additionally, among Latinas in their twenties who have had sex in the past three months, 24% did not use any contraception the last time they had sex. Three-quarters of Latinos age 18-45 in the U.S. said they would be somewhat or very likely to visit a Spanish language website devoted to contraception, according to a new national survey. 

“Since launching in 2011, creating a Spanish-language version of Bedsider is the request we have received most often from health care providers and women in our target audience,” said Lawrence Swiader, Senior Director of Digital Media for The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “Now that we have good evidence that Bedsider works—and recognizing that fully 22% of Hispanics age 18-29 speak mainly Spanish—the time was right for creating a Spanish language version of our website to better reach and serve all Latinas.

The Spanish edition of Bedsider will feature easy and visual ways to explore and compare every available method of birth control; videos of real women describing their personal experiences with each method; birth control and appointment reminders sent by text or email; articles with the latest information about birth control, health care, and relationships; and the most comprehensive list of where to get birth control ever compiled. And it's completely free.

“Bedsider is a phenomenal website that I use every time I counsel a patient on contraception,” said Dr. Veronica Ades, MD, MPH, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University. “As a Latina OB/GYN who treats many Spanish-speaking patients, I think the new Spanish version of Bedsider is a valuable tool to help reduce the unmet need for contraception among Latinas. Many of my patients have concerns about side effects, for example, and being able to read the website themselves in Spanish makes a huge difference in their decision-making process.”

An independent, random assignment evaluation of Bedsider published in Social Marketing Quarterly notes that women age 18-29 who used Bedsider were 2.54 times less likely to have unprotected sex and 3.79 times less likely to have an unplanned pregnancy compared to women in a control group who did not use Bedsider.

Bedsider is a program of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a research-based, non-profit, non-partisan organization. Bedsider’s Spanish edition is accessible at Bedsider.org/es.

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About Bedsider
Bedsider is an online birth control support network designed to make birth control easier. Whether women and their partners are considering birth control for the first time or already on it, Bedsider has everything they need to find the best method, stay on it, and use it successfully. See what we're up to at Bedsider.org.