Pregnancy Tests Are Going Green (And Protecting Your Privacy In The Process)
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It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman who’s trying to get pregnant or a woman who’s hoping with all of her might that her birth control didn’t falter this month. We can all pretty much agree that using home pregnancy tests is an unnerving experience for several reasons. But luckily, a new health startup just received the go-ahead to help us feel a lot better navigating this potentially life-changing question.
Lia Diagnostics, a new company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the manufacturer of the most groundbreaking home pregnancy test product we’ve seen in decades. Its test is the first to use only biodegradable paper materials (you can flush it or compost it), which makes it truly discreet (no one will find your results in any garbage can) and incredibly hygienic (pee stays where it belongs — in the toilet). There’s nothing like it currently on the market. And the FDA just approved of the product, which means it could be coming to a retailer near you very soon.
Co-founders Anna Couturier Simpson and Bethany Edwards also just participated in Startup Battlefield at Tech Crunch’s Disrupt Berlin 2017 conference, winning the grand prize of almost $50,000 to further propel their new business focused on women’s health, women’s privacy and environmental sustainability.
“The at-home pregnancy test is still the same stiff plastic relic highlighted in movies for its lack of privacy,” said Edwards in one of her speeches at the conference. “Someone finds the test in the trash and breaks the news before you can. Worse yet, they’re bulky, expensive and add over 2 million pounds of plastic to landfills every year.”
The team behind Lia hopes to start offering these revolutionary pregnancy tests to the public via Amazon in mid-2018. While the price point hasn’t been officially set, you can expect the test to cost between $9 and $22. (We know that’s quite a gap, but come on, it’s totally worth it.)
Lia has also partnered with organizations like Planned Parenthood, Whitman-Walker Health and PreserveFertility.org. The company already has an option on their website for those interested in donating to these causes to give a test (at the cost of $10) to a woman supported by one of these groups. Talk about paying it forward the modern way.
We can’t wait to see how Lia’s flushable pregnancy test changes the market (not to mention the actual experience of using a pregnancy test) in the months and years to come. It’s about time we saw some innovation in this space.
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