| Natural Family Planning |
Article Index for Natural |
Website Links For Natural Family Planning |
Information AboutNatural Family Planning |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING | |
| theology of the body | |
| fertility tracking | |
Natural family planning (NFP) is a term referring to the Family Planning methods approved by the Roman Catholic Church . In accordance with the requirements for Sexual Behavior maintained by this church, NFP forbids the use of Contraception , as well as all Orgasm ic acts outside of those achieved through Unprotected Vaginal Intercourse with the user's spouse. There are only two methods permitted by the Catholic church for avoiding Pregnancy . The primary method is periodic Abstinence during the Fertile period of each menstrual cycle. Methods used to identify the fertile period may rely either on a woman's Records Of Cycle Length or Observation Of Fertility Signs . These methods may also be used to help achieve pregnancy. The other method permitted is intentionally extending the natural period of Infertility Caused By Breastfeeding . The Catholic church permits sex during Pregnancy , and after the woman goes through Menopause . PREVALENCE It is estimated that 2-3% of the world's reproductive age population relies on periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy.1 Breastfeeding is believed to reduce the world's fertility rate by 30-45%.2 However, what portion of this population should be considered NFP users is unclear. Some Catholic sources consider couples that violate the religious restrictions associated with natural family planning to not be NFP users.Kippley (1996), p. 13 3 There is little data on the worldwide use of natural family planning. In Brazil, NFP is the third most popular family planning method.4 The "safe period" method of Fertility Awareness is the most common family planning method used in India, although condoms are used by some.5 Use of NFP in developed countries is low, even among Catholics. While Catholics made up 24% of the U.S. population in 2002 ,6 only 1.5% of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy were using periodic abstinence.7 See Table 56. Use of NFP may not be restricted to Catholic couples. In 2002, Sam and Bethany Torode, then a Protestant Christian couple, published a book advocating NFP use.8 (Five years after authoring the book, the Torodes redacted their advocacy of NFP-only to also support barrier methods as moral. The Torodes Converted to Orthodox Christianity .9) METHODS There are three main types of NFP. These are the observational methods, the statistical or "calendar" methods, and the Lactational Amenorrhea Method . Observational methods rely on biological signs of fertility, while statistical methods approximate the likelihood of fertility, based on the length of past menstrual cycles. Observational Some methods of NFP track biological signs of fertility. When used outside of the Catholic concept of NFP, these methods are often referred to simply as Fertility Awareness methods rather than NFP. The three primary signs of a woman's fertility are her Basal Body Temperature , her Cervical mucus, and her cervical position. Some systems use only cervical mucus to determine fertility. Two well-known mucus-only methods are the Billings Ovulation Method and the Creighton Model FertilityCare System . If two or more signs are tracked, the method is referred to as a symptothermal method. Two popular symptothermal systems are that taught by the Couple To Couple League , and the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) taught by Toni Weschler .Unlike the organizations associated with other popular observational systems, Toni Weschler has no connection to the Roman Catholic Church. Some fertility monitoring devices accept and interpret temperature readings, use urinalysis to follow changes in levels of estrogen and luteinizing hormone, or both. Statistical These methods make statistical estimates as to when a woman is fertile. They include the Rhythm Method and the Standard Days Method. Lactational amenorrhea The lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a method of avoiding pregnancies which is based on the natural Postpartum Infertility that occurs when a woman is Amenorrheic and fully Breastfeeding . The rules of the method help a women identify and possibly lengthen her infertile period. A strict version of LAM is known as ''ecological breastfeeding''. Effectiveness The ,10 has a perfect-use failure rate of 9% per year, while observational and lactational methods of NFP have lower perfect-use failure rates — between 1%-3% per year. The common usage failure rate is up to 25% per year.12 13 14 15 THEOLOGY See Also: Christian views on contraception#Roman Catholic Church Official Catholic Catholic doctrine holds that God created sexual intercourse to be both unitive and Procreative .16 The Church considers deliberately altering fertility or the Marital Act with the intention of preventing procreation to be Sin ful. Thus, artificial birth control methods and orgasmic acts outside of full marital intercourse are forbidden, while not having sex at all (abstinence) is considered morally acceptable. CCC #2351-2359 While deliberate orgasmic acts apart from a culmination in full marital intercourse are forbidden, the Church does not condemn Foreplay in the context of sexual relations within marriage. Foreplay is unobjectionable as long as the act culminates with the husband Penetrating his wife's Vagina with his Penis and Ejaculating while penetrating. 17 The Catholic Church does not condemn accidental Premature Ejaculation . Having sex at an infertile time in a woman's life (such as pregnancy or post- Menopause ) is also considered acceptable, since the infertile condition is considered to be created by God, rather than as an act by the couple.18 Similarly, under Catholic theology, it may be morally acceptable to abstain during the fertile part of the woman's Menstrual Cycle . CCC #2370 Increasing the Postpartum infertile period through particular breastfeeding practices — the lactational amenorrhea method — is also considered a natural and morally unobjectionable way to space a family's children.19 The Catholic Church acknowledges a potential benefit of spacing children CCC #2368 and use of NFP for this reason is encouraged. '' Humanae Vitae '' cites "physical, economic, psychological and social conditions" as possibly compelling reasons to avoid pregnancy.20 Couples are warned, however, against using NFP for selfish, immoral, or insincere reasons. Many Catholic sources extol the benefits children bring to their parents, their siblings, and society in general, and couples are encouraged to have as many children as their circumstances make practical.Humanae Vitae Section I.9 21 22 23 In the 1950s and 1960s, Jesuit Fathers John C. Ford and Gerald Kelly argued that "even with absolutely no excusing cause based on health, economics, etc., no married couple is bound by the law of God to have more children than is necessary for the general conservation and gradual increase of the human race." They stated in a 1964 publication that "today in the United States a family of four children would be sufficient to satisfy the duty." Frs. Ford and Kelly wrote that a majority of theologians at a 1952 meeting of the Catholic Theological Society Of America agreed with this position.24, which cites: :25 In 2006, Catholic theologian Thomas Stork argued that, while four children may not necessarily be the correct number, "the general approach of these authors and of the pre-conciliar moralists was correct."Storck (2006) Dissident and other opposing See Also: Christian views on contraception#Natural Family Planning only or "artificial" methods too? Many Catholics have voiced significant disagreement with the Church's stance on contraception.A summary and restatement of the debate is available in Roderick Hindery. "The Evolution of Freedom as Catholicity in Catholic Ethics." ''Anxiety, Guilt, and Freedom''. Eds. Benjamin Hubbard and Brad Starr, UPA, 1990. The Canadian Conference Of Catholic Bishops issued probably the most heavily dissenting document, the Winnipeg Statement . In it, the bishops argued that many Catholics found it very difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to obey ''Humanae Vitae''. Additionally, they reasserted the Catholic principle of Primacy Of Conscience .26 Former Catholics such as Fr. Charles Curran have also criticized the stance of ''Vitae'' on artificial birth control.27 Theological opposition has additionally come from Protestant Christianity. John Piper 's ''Desiring God'' ministry states of NFP , ''"There is no reason to conclude that natural family planning is appropriate but that "artificial" means are not."''28 Sam and Bethany Torode, former advocates of NFP-only, have redacted their position to include barrier methods and explain their current theology this way: We also see honest congruity with the language of the body by saying "no" to conception with our bodies (via barrier methods or sensual massage) when our minds and hearts are also saying "no" to conception. We don’t believe this angers God, nor that it leads to the slippery slope of relativism or divorce. We strongly disagree with the idea that this is a mortal sin.... it’s a theological attack on women to always require that abstinence during the time of the wife’s peak sexual desire (ovulation) for the entire duration of her fertile life, except for the handful of times when she conceives. POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES Fertility Awareness methods of NFP can be used to track reproductive health in general, and aid in the diagnosis of gynecological health and/or fertility problems. Particularly with the Sympto-Thermal Method, which is based on a scientific method of self-observation, temperature, external and internal mucus, and cervical observations are all recorded daily on a calendar. Any observation of irregularities may prove helpful, providing a doctor or gynecolotist with important diagnostic information with dates and a personal history of any abnormalities.29 The fertility knowledge gained from NFP methods may also be used to help achieve pregnancy.30 Since NFP methods do not interfere with natural female hormone cycles, NFP is not proven to have any physical side effects. Relatedly, intercourse may be spontaneous, as compared to the use of condoms.31 However, intercourse is not spontaneous during the days where sex is forbidden. NFP can be free or very low-cost. Some methods encourage the use of a thermometer and/or photocopied charts, which can be obtained relatively inexpensively. Some couples choose to use Software or to use other devices such as a string of beads for counting the days. Divorce rate Proponents of NFP say it increases marital satisfaction and helps lower divorce rates. Anecdotal evidence and small studies are put forth in support of this view. Marital Duration and Natural Family Planning . Accessed October 2005. One study involving 505 women using NFP found a correlation between lower divorce rates and the use of NFP. Divorce Rate Comparisons Between Couples Using Natural Family Planning & Artificial Birth Control Claims regarding communication Fertility awareness forms of NFP (which require daily charting of fertility signs) can result in couples communicating more about their bodies and sexuality; this is said to improve communication skills throughout the entire marriage. One idea, called a "courtship and honeymoon effect",Kippley (1996), p. 246 32 is that the scheduled abstinence encourages couples to express love in non-genital ways, and to have a greater appreciation for intercourse when it does happen.33 POTENTIAL DISADVANTAGES Abstinence requirement
Method limitations
-->39 and 13:4 (January-February 1987) 5. and menstruation can return as early as 6 weeks post-partum.40 Many women breastfeeding newborns sometimes experience a return of mensturation much earlier then the typical range despite exclusive breastfeeding - some as early as 8 weeks post-partum. Without this early return of the menses occurring, the phenomena of "Irish Twins" (children born within 12 months of each other), or that of mothers with a first pregnancy in their early 20's birthing 12 or more children in their lifetime, would obviously not be physically possible.
Implantation failure and miscarriage
It has also been suggested that pregnancies resulting from method failures of NFP are at increased risk of miscarriage and birth defects due to aged gametes at the time of conception.42 The most recent research, however, suggests timing of conception has no effect on miscarriage rates,43 low birth weight, or preterm delivery.44 SEE ALSO NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS Press
NFP information
|
|
|