SAFE

In the practice of systematic Natural Family Planning, you simply observe the signs of fertility and infertility that God built into female human nature. In the practice of ecological breastfeeding, you simply nurse your baby frequently. What could be safer and more in tune with nature?

NFP uses no birth control drugs or devices. Every drug has potential side effects, and you should not take a drug product unless it is necessary to cure or relieve something that is wrong with you. But your fertility is a normal process, not a disease. Birth control chemicals are at best unnecessary drugs.

You may not appreciate how safe NFP is for you personally until you understand the risks of chemical birth control (the Pill, implants, Depo shots and other injections) and invasive devices (the Intrauterine Device, or IUD). You may think that whatever birth control chemicals are being sold now are perfectly safe. Not so. See  The Pill- How does it work? Is it safe?

Remember that drug companies have consistently claimed great safety for every birth control drug that has ever appeared (since 1960, in fact). It is generally only when they come out with a "new generation" of the Pill that they admit the problems of the "old" Pill. Keep also in mind that most IUDs were taken off the American market because of health-related lawsuits. Lastly, you should be aware that some physicians have linked chemical spermicides with birth defects.

EFFECTIVE

There is no doubt about it: some physicians are well informed about Natural Family Planning and they strongly encourage its use. Some are so convinced about the medical and moral hazards of unnatural forms of birth control that Natural Family Planning (NFP) is the only form of conception control they will offer to their patients.

However, the fact that some methods of NFP can be 99% effective in the avoidance of pregnancy seems unknown to most of the general public--including many health care professionals. The fact that the fertility awareness which is a key element of modern NFP is also very helpful to couples of marginal fertility in seeking pregnancy is also unknown. Ignorance breeds prejudice, and this is just as true regarding NFP as it is about other areas of life; it applies across the board from the "man in the street" to the editors of health journals and women's magazines.

The Sympto-Thermal Method taught by the Couple to Couple League and most other teaching organizations uses the two natural signs of cervical mucus and the waking temperature plus certain information from the woman's own previous cycle history, and these three factors are used together in a cross-checking way. Users are generally taught about physical changes in the cervix for further corroboration, but such observations are usually not included in the rules.

John Kippley (co-founder of CCL) 

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