What’s real and what’s not...
Myth #1: Natural Family Planning is just another name for the Rhythm method.
Reality: Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for modern, healthy, scientifically accurate, and reliable methods of family planning. Modern Natural Family Planning (NFP) and the Calendar Rhythm Method are two different methods. The Calendar Rhythm method was developed in the 1930's and estimated the time of ovulation based on previous menstrual cycles. If a cycle was regular then the method was effective. However, this practice often proved inaccurate because of the unique nature of each woman’s cycle. In contrast, Modern NFP takes into account these variations and effectively identifies ovulation in each menstrual cycle. As a result, women with irregular cycles could now rely on Modern NFP to effectively identify their signs of fertility in each cycle. NFP methods are modern, healthy, accurate, and reliable. Furthermore, they have been validated by extensive scientific and clinical research.
Myth #2: NFP is not a reliable method of family planning.
Reality: If someone wants to drive a car, but chooses to skip driver’s education, refuses to stop at the red lights, and won’t follow the map, will you be surprised if the car crashes or the driver gets lost? In the same way, if a couple thinks about Modern NFP, but chooses not to get fully trained by a certified instructor, chooses not to follow the method rules, or chooses not to keep a daily chart, then that couple will not reap the benefits of years of medical research and proven effectiveness. On the other hand, a couple who is taught by a certified teacher, motivated to use NFP, and able to put a sticker on a chart once a day can 99+% effectively use Modern NFP. Those couples who have examined their call to responsible parenthood and prayerfully believe that they should postpone or avoid pregnancy can follow the method-defined rules to effectively meet their goal. Instruction costs are typically minimal or free and there are usually no ongoing costs. Plus, NFP is completely natural and has no side effects or potential side effects!
Myth #3: NFP can only be used by women with regular cycles.
Reality: NFP does NOT depend on having regular menstrual cycles; each woman and each cycle is treated as unique. Since Natural Family Planning easily identifies daily signs of fertility, NFP works with menstrual cycles of any length and any degree of irregularity. It can be used during breastfeeding, just before menopause, and in other special circumstances with a 99% (or greater) effectiveness. Once a woman understands the physical signals of her body, she and her spouse can use it according to their family planning intentions (i.e., to achieve or avoid pregnancy).
Myth #4: NFP is too complicated to be useful for most people.
Reality: Anyone who is taught by a certified teacher and is motivated to use NFP can do so! The methods are so simple that they have been successfully adapted to suit the needs of cultures all around the world. Blessed Mother Theresa and the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity taught the women of Calcutta, India to use Modern NFP with 99.6% effectiveness. (For effectiveness study details: http://www.familyplanning.net/main.php?id_area=3) Modern NFP methods are healthy, accurate, and reliable. Furthermore, they have been validated by extensive scientific and clinical research. Instruction costs are typically minimal and there are usually no ongoing costs. As an added bonus, the divorce rate for couples practicing NFP is virtually nonexistent (less than 1-5%)! Couples using NFP consistently express increases in communication, understanding, satisfaction, freedom, strength, respect, and joy in their marriages.
Myth # 5: There is no difference between NFP and methods of contraception.
Reality: Modern NFP methods are different from and better than methods of contraception because they:
- cooperate with, rather than suppress, a couple’s natural fertility
- can be used both to achieve and avoid pregnancy (99+% method effectiveness)
- call for shared responsibility and cooperation by husband and wife
- enhance spousal communication
- foster respect for and acceptance of the total person
- have no harmful side effects
- are virtually cost free (there is usually some cost associated with training)
- are morally acceptable
- allow couples to reflect God's love and to give of themselves to each other: freely, totally, faithfully, and fruitfully
- encourages a couple to pursue responsible parenthood
Modern NFP is unique because it enables its users to work with the body rather than against it. Fertility is not a problem to be solved or a disease that needs medicine, but rather a reality to live and a gift to embrace.
Myth #6: The Catholic Church wants people to have as many babies as possible.
Reality: The Church encourages people to be responsible stewards of their fertility. In this view of “responsible parenthood”, married couples carefully weigh their responsibilities to God, each other, the children they already have, and the world in which they live when making decisions about the number and spacing of their children.
“...For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness, but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to objective criteria of morality...” (2368 Catechism of the Catholic Church)
What is objective criteria of morality? A couple who have prayerfully discerned responsible parenthood and have just reasons to postpone pregnancy either for a time or indefinitely, cannot choose a method of postponement that is immoral... i.e. contraception. Contraception excludes the fruitfulness of God's love, changes the meaning of the marital embrace, and prevents the couple from giving themselves totally to each other as promised in their marriage vows.
“…the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of authentic freedom…” (2370 Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Natural Family Planning (NFP) allows a couple to make an educated observation of a couple's fertility and thus make a responsible and prayerful decision to achieve or postpone pregnancy by self-observation and the use of infertile/fertile periods.
Resource: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/myths.htm