Natural family planning
Encyclopedia
Natural family planning (NFP) is a term referring to the family planning
methods approved by the Roman Catholic Church
. In accordance with the Church's requirements for sexual behavior
in keeping with its philosophy of the dignity of the human person, NFP excludes the use of other methods of birth control
.
Periodic abstinence
and the natural infertility
caused by breastfeeding
are the only methods deemed moral by the Church for avoiding pregnancy
. When used to avoid pregnancy, NFP limits sexual intercourse to naturally infertile periods; portions of the menstrual cycle
, during pregnancy, and after menopause
. Various methods may be used to identify whether a woman is likely to be fertile
; this information may be used in attempts to either avoid or achieve pregnancy.
. In the year 388, he wrote, "Is it not you who used to counsel us to observe as much as possible the time when a woman, after her purification, is most likely to conceive, and to abstain from cohabitation at that time...?" The Manichaeans
(the group the early church father St. Augustine wrote of) believed that it was immoral to create any children, thus (by their belief system), trapping souls in mortal bodies. Augustine condemned them for their use of periodic abstinence: "From this it follows that you consider marriage is not to procreate children, but to satiate lust."
If the Manichaeans had an accurate idea of the fertile portion of the menstrual cycle, such knowledge died with them. Documented attempts to prevent pregnancy by practicing periodic abstinence do not appear again until the mid-19th century, when various calendar-based methods were developed "by a few secular thinkers." The Roman Catholic Church's first recorded official statement on periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy is from 1853, where a ruling of the church's Sacred Penitentiary
addressed the topic of periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy. Distributed to confessors, the ruling stated that couples who had, on their own, begun the practice of periodic abstinence—especially if they had "legitimate reasons"—were not sin
ning by doing so.
In 1880, the Sacred Penitentiary reaffirmed the 1853 ruling, and went slightly further. It suggested that, in cases where the couple was already practicing artificial birth control, and could not be dissuaded to cease attempting birth regulation, the confessor might morally teach them of periodic abstinence.
, a Dutch gynecologist, showed that women only ovulate once per menstrual cycle. In the 1920s, Kyusaku Ogino
, a Japanese gynecologist, and Hermann Knaus, from Austria, working independently, each made the discovery that ovulation occurs about fourteen days before the next menstrual period. Ogino used his discovery to develop a formula for use in aiding infertile women to time intercourse to achieve pregnancy.
In 1930, John Smulders, a Roman Catholic physician from the Netherlands, used Knaus and Ogino's discoveries to create a method for avoiding pregnancy. Smulders published his work with the Dutch Roman Catholic medical association, and this was the official rhythm method promoted over the next several decades. While maintaining procreation as the primary function of intercourse, the December 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii
by Pope Pius XI
gave the highest form of recognition to a secondary—unitive—purpose of sexual intercourse. This encyclical stated that there was no moral stain associated with having marital intercourse at times when "new life cannot be brought forth." Although this referred primarily to conditions such as current pregnancy and menopause, the Sacred Penitentiary in yet another ruling in 1932, and the majority of Catholic theologians also interpreted it to allow moral use—for couples with "upright motives"—of the newly created rhythm method.
In 1932 a Catholic physician published a book titled The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women describing the method, and the 1930s also saw the first U.S. Rhythm Clinic (founded by John Rock
) to teach the method to Catholic couples. It was during this decade that Rev. Wilhelm Hillebrand, a Catholic priest in Germany, developed a system for avoiding pregnancy based on basal body temperature
.
in 1951 to be the first unequivocal acceptance of periodic abstinence by the Catholic Church. The 1950s also saw another major advance in fertility awareness
knowledge: Dr. John Billings
discovered the relationship between cervical mucus and fertility while working for the Melbourne Catholic Family Welfare Bureau. Dr. Billings and several other physicians studied this sign for a number of years, and by the late 1960s had performed clinical trials and begun to set up teaching centers around the world.
Humanae Vitae
, published in 1968 by Pope Paul VI
, addressed a pastoral directive to scientists: "It is supremely desirable... that medical science should by the study of natural rhythms succeed in determining a sufficiently secure basis for the chaste limitation of offspring." This is interpreted as favoring the then-new, more reliable symptoms-based fertility awareness
methods over the rhythm method. Just a few years later, in 1971, the first organization to teach a symptothermal method (one that used both mucus and temperature observations) was started. Now called Couple to Couple League International
, this organization was founded by John and Sheila Kippley, lay Catholics, along with Dr. Konald Prem. During the following decade, other now-large Catholic organizations were formed: Family of the Americas (1977), teaching the Billings method, and the Pope Paul VI Institute (1985), teaching a new mucus-only system called the Creighton Model
.
Today, use of the term natural family planning to describe calendar-based methods is considered incorrect by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
: it considers such methods "inaccurate". Still, some organizations still consider calendar-based methods to be forms of NFP. For example, in 1999 the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University
developed the Standard Days Method (SDM), which is more effective than the rhythm method. SDM is promoted by Georgetown University as a form of natural family planning.
There is little data on the worldwide use of natural family planning. In Brazil, NFP is the third most popular family planning method. The "safe period" method of fertility awareness
is the most common family planning method used in India, although condoms are used by some.
Use of NFP in developed countries is low, even among Catholics. While Catholics made up 24% of the U.S. population in 2002, of reproductive age American women using birth control, only 1.5% were using periodic abstinence.
Use of NFP is not restricted to Catholic couples. In 2002, Sam and Bethany Torode, then a Protestant Christian
couple, published a book advocating NFP use. (Five years after writing the book, the Torodes retracted their advocacy of pure NFP and also supported barrier methods as moral; the couple also converted
from Protestantism to the Eastern Orthodox Church
.)
of the woman nor the fecundity
of a particular sex act. That NFP can be used to both avoid or achieve pregnancy may also be cited as a distinguishing characteristic.
Additionally, NFP differs greatly from contraception because, according to action theory
, NFP does not "break" the sexual act (separating the action from its purposes) in the way contraception does.
. Symptoms-based methods rely on biological signs of fertility, while calendar-based methods estimate the likelihood of fertility based on the length of past menstrual cycles. According to the Couple to Couple League, "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."
Clinical studies by the Guttmacher Institute
, instead, showed a much lower efficacy, with 25.3% of failures in typical use condition.
, her cervical
mucus, and her cervical position. Computerized fertility monitor
s may track basal body temperatures, hormonal levels in urine, changes in electrical resistance of a woman's saliva or a mixture of these symptoms.
From these symptoms, a woman can learn to assess her fertility without use of a computerized device. 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 taught by the Couple to Couple League
and the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) taught by Toni Weschler
. A study completed in Germany in 2007 found that the symptothermal method has a method effectiveness of 99.6%.
In Canada, the symptothermal method is taught by SERENA Canada which is an inter-denominational organization which has been developing the Symptothermal Method as a part of NFP since 1955. They are also not specifically affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It is also taught by Justisse Healthworks for Women, a pro-choice feminist organization that allows and supports women to combine other methods of birth control with their fertility awareness practice.
that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding
. The rules of the method help a woman identify and possibly lengthen her infertile period. A strict version of LAM is known as ecological breastfeeding.
created sexual intercourse to be both unitive and procreative. The Catholic Church teaches that an act which deliberately attempts to divorce the unitive and procreative meaning of the marital act is opposed to God's plan for life and love in the order of creation. "[A]ny action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means" is opposed to this order and is therefore forbidden according to orthodox Catholic teaching. Thus, artificial birth control methods are forbidden, as are acts intended to end in orgasm outside the context of intercourse (e.g. masturbation or oral sex that is not part of foreplay). At the same time, not having sex at all (abstinence) is considered morally acceptable.
Engaging in marital relations 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. Similarly, under Catholic theology, it may be morally acceptable to abstain during the fertile part of the woman's menstrual cycle
. 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.
The Catholic Church acknowledges a potential benefit of spacing children and use of NFP for this reason is tolerated. Humanae Vitae
cites "physical, economic, psychological and social conditions" as possibly compelling reasons to avoid pregnancy.
Couples are warned, however, against using NFP for selfish, immoral, or insincere reasons. A few Catholic theologians argue that couples with several children may morally choose to avoid pregnancy, even if their circumstances (emotional, physical, and economic) would allow for more children.
More commonly, Catholic sources extol the benefits children bring to their parents, their siblings, and society in general, and encourage couples to have as many children as their circumstances make practical.
issued what many interpreted as a dissenting document, the Winnipeg Statement
. In it, the bishops recognized that many Catholics found it "either extremely difficult or even impossible to make their own all elements of this doctrine" (that of Humanae Vitae). Additionally, they reasserted the Catholic principle of primacy of conscience, a principle that they said should be properly interpreted, since they insisted that "a Catholic Christian is not free to form his conscience without consideration of the teaching of the magisterium, in the particular instance exercised by the Holy Father in an encyclical letter". Catholics for a Free Choice
claimed in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the Church's teaching on birth control. According to a nationwide poll of 2,242 U.S. adults surveyed online in September 2005 by Harris Interactive
, 90% of Catholics supported the use of birth control/contraceptives. Use of natural family planning methods among United States Catholics purportedly is low, although the number cannot be known with certainty. In 2002, 24% of the U.S. population identified as Catholic. But of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy, only 1.5% were using NFP.
Much criticism of NFP stems from the Church's stance of NFP as the only allowable form of birth control. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI asserted that handing out condoms is not the solution to combating AIDS and actually makes the problem worse. Some senior Catholic authorities, such as Belgian Cardinal Emeritus Godfried Danneels, believe the Catholic Church should support condoms used to prevent serious diseases such as AIDS
, because non-use is tantamount to murder. In 2003 BBC's Panorama
claimed that the Vatican is intentionally spreading lies that HIV can pass through the membrane of the condom.
Family planning proponent Stephen D. Mumford
has argued that the primary motivation behind the Church's continued opposition to contraceptive use is the Church's fear of losing papal authority if the pope were to contradict the dogma of papal infallibility
. Mumford gives as an example the citation made by August Bernhard Hasler of a comment by Pope John Paul II
prior to his papacy:
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." Sam and Bethany Torode, former advocates of NFP-only, have redacted their position to include barrier methods and explain their current theology this way:
Catholics such as Charles Curran
have also criticized the stance of Vitae on artificial birth control.
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
methods approved by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. In accordance with the Church's requirements for sexual behavior
Human sexual behavior
Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...
in keeping with its philosophy of the dignity of the human person, NFP excludes the use of other methods of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
.
Periodic abstinence
Sexual abstinence
Sexual abstinence is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, philosophical or religious reasons.Common reasons for practicing sexual abstinence include:*poor health - medical celibacy...
and the natural infertility
Lactational Amenorrhea Method
The lactational amenorrhea method is a method of avoiding pregnancies which is based on the natural postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding...
caused by breastfeeding
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
are the only methods deemed moral by the Church for avoiding pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
. When used to avoid pregnancy, NFP limits sexual intercourse to naturally infertile periods; portions of the menstrual cycle
Menstrual cycle
The menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction. This article focuses on the human menstrual cycle....
, during pregnancy, and after menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
. Various methods may be used to identify whether a woman is likely to be fertile
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
; this information may be used in attempts to either avoid or achieve pregnancy.
Pre-20th century
Possibly the earliest Christian writing about periodic abstinence was by St. AugustineAugustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
. In the year 388, he wrote, "Is it not you who used to counsel us to observe as much as possible the time when a woman, after her purification, is most likely to conceive, and to abstain from cohabitation at that time...?" The Manichaeans
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
(the group the early church father St. Augustine wrote of) believed that it was immoral to create any children, thus (by their belief system), trapping souls in mortal bodies. Augustine condemned them for their use of periodic abstinence: "From this it follows that you consider marriage is not to procreate children, but to satiate lust."
If the Manichaeans had an accurate idea of the fertile portion of the menstrual cycle, such knowledge died with them. Documented attempts to prevent pregnancy by practicing periodic abstinence do not appear again until the mid-19th century, when various calendar-based methods were developed "by a few secular thinkers." The Roman Catholic Church's first recorded official statement on periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy is from 1853, where a ruling of the church's Sacred Penitentiary
Apostolic Penitentiary
The Apostolic Penitentiary, formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is one of the three tribunals of the Roman Curia. The Apostolic Penitentiary is chiefly a tribunal of mercy, responsible for issues relating to the forgiveness of sins in the Catholic Church.The...
addressed the topic of periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy. Distributed to confessors, the ruling stated that couples who had, on their own, begun the practice of periodic abstinence—especially if they had "legitimate reasons"—were not sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
ning by doing so.
In 1880, the Sacred Penitentiary reaffirmed the 1853 ruling, and went slightly further. It suggested that, in cases where the couple was already practicing artificial birth control, and could not be dissuaded to cease attempting birth regulation, the confessor might morally teach them of periodic abstinence.
Early 20th century
In 1905 Theodoor Hendrik van de VeldeTheodoor Hendrik van de Velde
Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde was a Dutch physician and gynæcologist who served as Director at the Gynæcological Institute in Haarlem. His 1926 book Het volkomen huwelijk made him an instant international celebrity...
, a Dutch gynecologist, showed that women only ovulate once per menstrual cycle. In the 1920s, Kyusaku Ogino
Kyusaku Ogino
was a Japanese doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.His natural father's family name was Nakamura, but Kyusaku was adopted by the Ogino family in 1901....
, a Japanese gynecologist, and Hermann Knaus, from Austria, working independently, each made the discovery that ovulation occurs about fourteen days before the next menstrual period. Ogino used his discovery to develop a formula for use in aiding infertile women to time intercourse to achieve pregnancy.
In 1930, John Smulders, a Roman Catholic physician from the Netherlands, used Knaus and Ogino's discoveries to create a method for avoiding pregnancy. Smulders published his work with the Dutch Roman Catholic medical association, and this was the official rhythm method promoted over the next several decades. While maintaining procreation as the primary function of intercourse, the December 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii
Casti Connubii
Castī Connūbiī was a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius XI on December 31, 1930 in response to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican church. It stressed the sanctity of marriage, prohibited Catholics from using any form of artificial birth control, and reaffirmed the prohibition on abortion...
by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
gave the highest form of recognition to a secondary—unitive—purpose of sexual intercourse. This encyclical stated that there was no moral stain associated with having marital intercourse at times when "new life cannot be brought forth." Although this referred primarily to conditions such as current pregnancy and menopause, the Sacred Penitentiary in yet another ruling in 1932, and the majority of Catholic theologians also interpreted it to allow moral use—for couples with "upright motives"—of the newly created rhythm method.
In 1932 a Catholic physician published a book titled The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women describing the method, and the 1930s also saw the first U.S. Rhythm Clinic (founded by John Rock
John Rock (American scientist)
John Rock was an American obstetrician and gynecologist. He is best known for the major role he played in the development of the first hormonal contraceptive, colloquially called "the pill".-Early life and career:...
) to teach the method to Catholic couples. It was during this decade that Rev. Wilhelm Hillebrand, a Catholic priest in Germany, developed a system for avoiding pregnancy based on basal body temperature
Basal body temperature
Basal body temperature is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest . It is generally measured immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken, although the temperature measured at that time is somewhat higher than the true basal body temperature...
.
Later 20th century to present
A minority of Catholic theologians continued to doubt the morality of periodic abstinence. Some historians consider two speeches delivered by Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
in 1951 to be the first unequivocal acceptance of periodic abstinence by the Catholic Church. The 1950s also saw another major advance in fertility awareness
Fertility awareness
Fertility awareness refers to a set of practices used to determine the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods may be used to avoid pregnancy, to achieve pregnancy, or as a way to monitor gynecological health....
knowledge: Dr. John Billings
John Billings
John Billings, was an Australian physician who pioneered the natural method of family planning known variously as the Billings Ovulation Method, the Ovulation Method, or the Billings Method....
discovered the relationship between cervical mucus and fertility while working for the Melbourne Catholic Family Welfare Bureau. Dr. Billings and several other physicians studied this sign for a number of years, and by the late 1960s had performed clinical trials and begun to set up teaching centers around the world.
Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and issued on 25 July 1968. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the continuing proscription of most forms of birth...
, published in 1968 by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
, addressed a pastoral directive to scientists: "It is supremely desirable... that medical science should by the study of natural rhythms succeed in determining a sufficiently secure basis for the chaste limitation of offspring." This is interpreted as favoring the then-new, more reliable symptoms-based fertility awareness
Fertility awareness
Fertility awareness refers to a set of practices used to determine the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods may be used to avoid pregnancy, to achieve pregnancy, or as a way to monitor gynecological health....
methods over the rhythm method. Just a few years later, in 1971, the first organization to teach a symptothermal method (one that used both mucus and temperature observations) was started. Now called Couple to Couple League International
Couple to Couple League
The Couple to Couple League is an international, non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio dedicated to teaching and promoting Natural Family Planning. Specifically, CCL promotes the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness and also promotes exclusive and continued breastfeeding...
, this organization was founded by John and Sheila Kippley, lay Catholics, along with Dr. Konald Prem. During the following decade, other now-large Catholic organizations were formed: Family of the Americas (1977), teaching the Billings method, and the Pope Paul VI Institute (1985), teaching a new mucus-only system called the Creighton Model
Creighton Model
The Creighton Model FertilityCare System is a form of natural family planning which involves identifying the fertile period during a woman's menstrual cycle. The Creighton Model was developed by Dr Thomas Hilgers, the founder and director of the Pope Paul VI Institute...
.
Today, use of the term natural family planning to describe calendar-based methods is considered incorrect by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic...
: it considers such methods "inaccurate". Still, some organizations still consider calendar-based methods to be forms of NFP. For example, in 1999 the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
developed the Standard Days Method (SDM), which is more effective than the rhythm method. SDM is promoted by Georgetown University as a form of natural family planning.
Prevalence
It is estimated that 2–3% of the world's reproductive age population relies on periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy. Breastfeeding is believed to reduce the world's fertility rate by 30–45%. 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.There is little data on the worldwide use of natural family planning. In Brazil, NFP is the third most popular family planning method. The "safe period" method of fertility awareness
Fertility awareness
Fertility awareness refers to a set of practices used to determine the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods may be used to avoid pregnancy, to achieve pregnancy, or as a way to monitor gynecological health....
is the most common family planning method used in India, although condoms are used by some.
Use of NFP in developed countries is low, even among Catholics. While Catholics made up 24% of the U.S. population in 2002, of reproductive age American women using birth control, only 1.5% were using periodic abstinence.
Use of NFP is not restricted to Catholic couples. In 2002, Sam and Bethany Torode, then a Protestant Christian
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
couple, published a book advocating NFP use. (Five years after writing the book, the Torodes retracted their advocacy of pure NFP and also supported barrier methods as moral; the couple also converted
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
from Protestantism to the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
.)
Not contraception
Some proponents of NFP differentiate it from other forms of birth control by labeling them artificial birth control. Other NFP literature holds that natural family planning is distinct from contraception. Proponents justify this classification system by saying that NFP has unique characteristics not shared by any other method of birth regulation except for abstinence. Commonly cited traits are that NFP is "open to life," and that NFP alters neither the fertilityFertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
of the woman nor the fecundity
Fecundity
Fecundity, derived from the word fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population. In biology, the definition is more equivalent to fertility, or the actual reproductive rate of an organism or...
of a particular sex act. That NFP can be used to both avoid or achieve pregnancy may also be cited as a distinguishing characteristic.
Additionally, NFP differs greatly from contraception because, according to action theory
Action theory
Action theory is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of more or less complex kind. This area of thought has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics...
, NFP does not "break" the sexual act (separating the action from its purposes) in the way contraception does.
Methods
There are three main types of NFP: the symptoms-based methods, the calendar-based methods, and the breastfeeding or lactational amenorrhea methodLactational Amenorrhea Method
The lactational amenorrhea method is a method of avoiding pregnancies which is based on the natural postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding...
. Symptoms-based methods rely on biological signs of fertility, while calendar-based methods estimate the likelihood of fertility based on the length of past menstrual cycles. According to the Couple to Couple League, "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."
Clinical studies by the Guttmacher Institute
Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute is a non-profit organization which works to advance sexual and reproductive health. The institute operates in the United States and globally "through an interrelated program of social science research, policy analysis and public education." According to their mission...
, instead, showed a much lower efficacy, with 25.3% of failures in typical use condition.
Symptoms-based
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-based methods rather than NFP. The three primary signs of a woman's fertility are her basal body temperatureBasal body temperature
Basal body temperature is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest . It is generally measured immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken, although the temperature measured at that time is somewhat higher than the true basal body temperature...
, her cervical
Cervix
The cervix is the lower, narrow portion of the uterus where it joins with the top end of the vagina. It is cylindrical or conical in shape and protrudes through the upper anterior vaginal wall...
mucus, and her cervical position. Computerized fertility monitor
Fertility monitor
A fertility monitor is an electronic device which may utilize various methods to assist the user with fertility awareness. A fertility monitor may analyze changes in hormone levels in urine, basal body temperature, electrical resistance of saliva and vaginal fluids, or a combination of these methods...
s may track basal body temperatures, hormonal levels in urine, changes in electrical resistance of a woman's saliva or a mixture of these symptoms.
From these symptoms, a woman can learn to assess her fertility without use of a computerized device. Some systems use only cervical mucus to determine fertility. Two well-known mucus-only methods are the Billings ovulation method
Billings ovulation method
The Billings Ovulation Method is a method which women use to monitor their fertility, by identifying when they are fertile and when they are infertile during each menstrual cycle. Users pay attention to the sensation at their vulva, and the appearance of any vaginal discharge...
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 taught by the Couple to Couple League
Couple to Couple League
The Couple to Couple League is an international, non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio dedicated to teaching and promoting Natural Family Planning. Specifically, CCL promotes the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness and also promotes exclusive and continued breastfeeding...
and the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) taught by Toni Weschler
Toni Weschler
Toni Weschler is the author of the bestselling book on women's health and fertility, Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health as well as the new "Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body...
. A study completed in Germany in 2007 found that the symptothermal method has a method effectiveness of 99.6%.
In Canada, the symptothermal method is taught by SERENA Canada which is an inter-denominational organization which has been developing the Symptothermal Method as a part of NFP since 1955. They are also not specifically affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It is also taught by Justisse Healthworks for Women, a pro-choice feminist organization that allows and supports women to combine other methods of birth control with their fertility awareness practice.
Calendar-based
Calendar-based methods determine fertility based on a record of the length of previous menstrual cycles. They include the Rhythm Method and the Standard Days Method. The Standard Days method was developed and proven by the researchers at the Institute for Reproductive Health of Georgetown University. CycleBeads, unaffiliated with religious teachings, is a visual tool based on the Standard Days method. According to the Institute of Reproductive Health, when used as birth control, CB has a 95% effectiveness rating. iCycleBeads is the first iPhone app based on a natural family method, Standard Days. Women can plan or prevent pregnancy naturally via their iPhone or Apple brand device.Lactational amenorrhea
The lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a method of avoiding pregnancy based on the natural postpartum infertilityInfertility
Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a person to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term...
that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
. The rules of the method help a woman identify and possibly lengthen her infertile period. A strict version of LAM is known as ecological breastfeeding.
Official Catholic
Catholic doctrine holds that GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
created sexual intercourse to be both unitive and procreative. The Catholic Church teaches that an act which deliberately attempts to divorce the unitive and procreative meaning of the marital act is opposed to God's plan for life and love in the order of creation. "[A]ny action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means" is opposed to this order and is therefore forbidden according to orthodox Catholic teaching. Thus, artificial birth control methods are forbidden, as are acts intended to end in orgasm outside the context of intercourse (e.g. masturbation or oral sex that is not part of foreplay). At the same time, not having sex at all (abstinence) is considered morally acceptable.
Engaging in marital relations at an infertile time in a woman's life (such as pregnancy or post-menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
) is also considered acceptable, since the infertile condition is considered to be created by God, rather than as an act by the couple. Similarly, under Catholic theology, it may be morally acceptable to abstain during the fertile part of the woman's menstrual cycle
Menstrual cycle
The menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction. This article focuses on the human menstrual cycle....
. Increasing the postpartum
Postnatal
Postnatal is the period beginning immediately after the birth of a child and extending for about six weeks. Another term would be postpartum period, as it refers to the mother...
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.
The Catholic Church acknowledges a potential benefit of spacing children and use of NFP for this reason is tolerated. Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and issued on 25 July 1968. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the continuing proscription of most forms of birth...
cites "physical, economic, psychological and social conditions" as possibly compelling reasons to avoid pregnancy.
Couples are warned, however, against using NFP for selfish, immoral, or insincere reasons. A few Catholic theologians argue that couples with several children may morally choose to avoid pregnancy, even if their circumstances (emotional, physical, and economic) would allow for more children.
More commonly, Catholic sources extol the benefits children bring to their parents, their siblings, and society in general, and encourage couples to have as many children as their circumstances make practical.
Dissident and other opposing
Some Catholics have indicated significant disagreement with the Church's stance on contraception. The Canadian Conference of Catholic BishopsCanadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the national assembly of the Bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943 and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Second Vatican Council, it became part of a worldwide network of Episcopal Conferences,...
issued what many interpreted as a dissenting document, the Winnipeg Statement
Winnipeg Statement
The Winnipeg Statement is the Canadian Bishops' Statement on the Encyclical Humanae Vitae from a Plenary Assembly held at Saint Boniface in Winnipeg, Manitoba...
. In it, the bishops recognized that many Catholics found it "either extremely difficult or even impossible to make their own all elements of this doctrine" (that of Humanae Vitae). Additionally, they reasserted the Catholic principle of primacy of conscience, a principle that they said should be properly interpreted, since they insisted that "a Catholic Christian is not free to form his conscience without consideration of the teaching of the magisterium, in the particular instance exercised by the Holy Father in an encyclical letter". Catholics for a Free Choice
Catholics for a Free Choice
Catholics for Choice , formerly Catholics for a Free Choice , is a Catholic pro-choice organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded "to serve as a voice for Catholics who believe that the Catholic tradition supports a woman's moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of...
claimed in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the Church's teaching on birth control. According to a nationwide poll of 2,242 U.S. adults surveyed online in September 2005 by Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive , headquartered in New York, New York, is a custom market research firm, known for the Harris Poll. Harris works in a wide range of industries...
, 90% of Catholics supported the use of birth control/contraceptives. Use of natural family planning methods among United States Catholics purportedly is low, although the number cannot be known with certainty. In 2002, 24% of the U.S. population identified as Catholic. But of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy, only 1.5% were using NFP.
Much criticism of NFP stems from the Church's stance of NFP as the only allowable form of birth control. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI asserted that handing out condoms is not the solution to combating AIDS and actually makes the problem worse. Some senior Catholic authorities, such as Belgian Cardinal Emeritus Godfried Danneels, believe the Catholic Church should support condoms used to prevent serious diseases such as AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, because non-use is tantamount to murder. In 2003 BBC's Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
claimed that the Vatican is intentionally spreading lies that HIV can pass through the membrane of the condom.
Family planning proponent Stephen D. Mumford
Stephen D. Mumford
Stephen Douglas Mumford is an American expert on fertility and population growth.Mumford was born August 28, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He did his undergraduate studies in agriculture at the University of Kentucky, graduating in 1966...
has argued that the primary motivation behind the Church's continued opposition to contraceptive use is the Church's fear of losing papal authority if the pope were to contradict the dogma of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
. Mumford gives as an example the citation made by August Bernhard Hasler of a comment by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
prior to his papacy:
If it should be declared that contraception is not evil in itself, then we should have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit had been on the side of the Protestant churches in 1930 (when the encyclical Casti Connubii was promulgated), in 1951 (Pius XII's address to the midwives), and in 1958 (the address delivered before the Society of Hematologists in the year the pope died). It should likewise have to be admitted that for a half century the Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and a large part of the Catholic hierarchy from a very serious error. This would mean that the leaders of the Church, acting with extreme imprudence, had condemned thousands of innocent human acts, forbidding, under pain of eternal damnation, a practice which would now be sanctioned. The fact can neither be denied nor ignored that these same acts would now be declared licit on the grounds of principles cited by the Protestants, which popes and bishops have either condemned or at least not approved.
Theological opposition has additionally come from Protestant Christianity. John Piper
John Piper (theologian)
John Stephen Piper is a Christian preacher and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
'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." 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.
Catholics such as Charles Curran
Charles Curran (theologian)
The Rev. Charles E. Curran is a moral theologian. He currently serves at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, as the Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values.-Biography:...
have also criticized the stance of Vitae on artificial birth control.
See also
- Catholic teachings on sexual moralityCatholic teachings on sexual moralityCatholic teachings on sexual morality draw from natural law, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition and are promulgated authoritatively by the Magisterium...
- New feminismNew feminismNew feminism is a predominantly Catholic philosophy which emphasizes a belief in an integral complementarity of men and women, rather than the superiority of men over women or women over men....
- Theology of the BodyTheology of the BodyTheology of the Body is the topic of a series of 129 lectures given by Pope John Paul II during his Wednesday audiences in the Pope Paul VI Hall between September 1979 and November 1984. It was the first major teaching of his pontificate...
- Couple to Couple LeagueCouple to Couple LeagueThe Couple to Couple League is an international, non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio dedicated to teaching and promoting Natural Family Planning. Specifically, CCL promotes the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness and also promotes exclusive and continued breastfeeding...
Press
- New Life for Family Planning, Michael P. Harris, Time, September 19, 1988
- The Orgasmatron Finally Shows Up: High Tech Rhythm New York Observer, June 27, 2004
NFP information
- Catholic Answers NFP Q&A
- Online Safe period Calculator
- Billings Ovulation Method
- Creighton Model System
- The Couple to Couple League
- Lady Calendar
- Lady Comp
- SERENA Canada
- Northwest Family Services
- Pope John Paul II on Distorted Views of Marriage & Family Sermon examining NFP in light of tradition.
- http://www.sensustraditionis.org/webaudio/Sermons/Disk5/Contraception.mp3 Clarifying the church's teaching on contraception and NFP with Fr. Chad Ripperger, FSSPPriestly Fraternity of St. PeterThe Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a traditionalist Catholic Society of Apostolic Life of priests and seminarians in good standing with the Holy See.-Canonical status:...
- Comprehensive website which provides women with free fertility charting tools, techniques, advice and instructions.