The Best Birth Control Methods

Natural Family Planning. Courtesy of http://www.nfponline.org. There are many different reasons that couples choose to learn Natural Family Planning — some like its high effectiveness rate, others appreciate that it is safe and healthy for the woman, and still others are glad to find a method of spacing births that fits with their religious beliefs. Couples choose to practice Natural Family Planning for a variety of reasons. Important to many people is the issue of morality. The services of the League are open to all regardless of religious affiliation or conviction, but that doesnt mean that we teach NFP without moral and religious convictions. First, we believe that God is the Author of nature; He is the one who put together in the marriage act what we call “making love” and “making babies.” It is God who in His providence has allowed us to learn in the late 20th century about womans alternating fertility and infertility — and about Natural Family Planning — at the same time that other medical advances greatly increased the population survival rate. NFP allows couples to prudently regulate births without recourse to unnatural, immoral methods of birth control that interfere with the way God designed our fertility. As astonishing as this statement may seem, throughout history natural methods have never been less effective than the unnatural, non-surgical methods. (Moral methods may not be as convenient, and they do require self-control, but that is a wonderful and rewarding virtue to acquire, as many NFP couples will attest.) In the 1930s the Ogino-Knaus Rhythm Method of NFP was as effective as the most effective “new” contraceptive barrier methods. In the 1960s, when the Pill launched the Sexual Revolution, the Sympto-Thermal Method of NFP (as taught by CCL today) was as effective as the Pill. Religious and moral convictions guide anyones decisions about sexual behavior. We believe that when people are fully informed about the advantages of NFP they will see that this method best agrees with their convictions as well as their practical desires for happier marriages and healthier lives. NFP does not mean “Not for Protestants.” You dont have to be Catholic to have strong convictions that it is wrong to use unnatural methods of birth control. “Such ‘providentialists’ should at least learn the rules for ecological breastfeeding, God’s own way of spacing babies.” For a better understanding of the moral issue of birth control and to find out the true position of the Catholic Church on this matter, please see Church Teachings on NFP. and especially the full text of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (On Human Life).However, while they often learn NFP for a single reason, most couples are happily surprised to find that there are other advantages to using NFP that they never suspected. Weve compiled here the various reasons couples have told us theyre glad to have found NFP. Natural Family Planning is fertility awareness, the knowledge of a couple’s fertility. It is a means of reading a woman’s signs of fertility and infertility. The Couple to Couple League teaches three basic signs of fertility — temperature, mucus and cervix — and how to apply this knowledge through the Sympto-Thermal Method (STM) of NFP, which can be used both to achieve and to avoid or postpone pregnancy. With the Couple to Couple League, the art of Natural Family Planning goes beyond the method as we teach NFP within the moral constructs of the Magesterium of the Catholic Church, with an emphasis on the teachings of Pope John Paul II and the Theology of the Body. Couples learn of God’s vision and plan for marriage and family, and how to live out their sexuality while upholding and respecting the dignity of each other and their union. A married couple’s virtuous application of their fertility awareness knowledge, either to try to achieve a pregnancy or to postpone a pregnancy, is called responsible parenthood. The Natural Family Planning also includes the return of fertility after childbirth. CCL promotes and encourages exclusive and continued breastfeeding as best for babies, couples, and families and provides information and instruction on how these practices can impact the return of fertility and be a part of responsible parenthood. Finally, CCL helps couples complete their Natural Family Planning journey with instruction on navigating the changing fertility status of the premenopause years.

Duration : 0:6:57

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