Natural Family Planning
What is Natural Family Planning?
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancies; it is a holistic approach to family planning. Today’s methods of NFP are based on scientific research and they are effective, they cooperate with God’s plan for marriage and sexuality, and they strengthen the marital relationship. In addition to the NFP introductory session offered to engaged couples during their Pre-Cana class, we offer a separate NFP introductory overview class open to all catechetical leaders.
Is Natural Family Planning another form of the Rhythm Method?
No, Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for modern, scientifically accurate, healthy and reliable methods of birth regulation. NFP differs from the “Rhythm, or Calendar” method, which dates back more than 50 years and had been proven often inaccurate because it was based on the mistake that all women’s menstrual cycles were the same. The modern methods of NFP do NOT depend on having regular menstrual cycles; they treat each woman and each cycle as unique. 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. NFP allows the woman, and her husband, to understand the physical signals her body shows when she is fertile and when she is not. Once the couple understands this information, the method can be used to avoid or to achieve pregnancy.
Why does the Church not accept contraceptive methods such as condoms or "the pill"?
NFP uses the natural cycle of the woman and can be used to avoid or achieve pregnancy depending upon the couple’s needs. It does nothing to alter the unitive and procreative aspects of sex. It uses no chemicals or other devices to alter the meaning or purpose of the sexual expression. It can help bring couples closer together as they learn the natural cycle of the woman and help each other to better understand fertile and infertile periods. With NFP a couple gives attention to and cooperates with the natural procreative system. Husband and wife learn about their combined fertility and, as opposed to most forms of contraception, they fully share responsibility on planning their family. NFP is morally acceptable because it respects the natural and supernatural vocation of the human person: responsible parenthood is lived out within the structures that God has established in human nature. The nature of sexual intercourse reflects a Divine plan: it is both love-giving (unitive) and life-giving (procreative). Contraception, on the other hand, frustrates the meaning of sexuality and artificially separates the unitive from the procreative aspects of marriage. That is why the Catholic Church teaches that couples must not actively intervene to separate their fertility from their physical union. To do so is to show disrespect for an important gift from God.
Is NFP as reliable as a contraceptive method when used to avoid pregnancy?
* Yes. When couples are taught by competent teachers, understand the method, and are motivated to use it properly, NFP is highly effective. Contrary to the general belief, birth control pills, intrauterine devices and pharmaceutical products such as “morning after” pills, RU-486, Depo-Provera and Norplant are not always contraceptive. They are programmed to act after conception has occurred. They, in fact, often cause early abortions by making implantation impossible. Only methods used to prevent conception are contraceptive by definition. Those methods are artificial barriers such as condoms, diaphragms, and spermicides, which have a much lower rate of effectiveness than NFP.
Is NFP safe?
*NFP is totally natural as opposed to the more common suppressive or destructive approaches of contraceptive methods. There are no pills to take, no devices to use, no hormones to inject. Not only is NFP safe, but it helps to maintain reproductive health because NFP empowers the woman to understand her body better. It is also a tool to monitor her gynecologic and procreative health. * Source: “Facts about NFP,” American Association of NFP Couple’s fertility awareness
Periodic abstinence... wouldn't our relationship suffer from it?
Using NFP requires abstinence from sexual intercourse, and sexual contact, at certain days of the woman’s menstrual cycle; this means an average of 6 to 12 days per menstrual cycle, depending on the fertility signs of the woman, the length of her cycle, and the method. These times of sexual abstinence do not mean abstinence from expressing love. In fact, the use of NFP encourages couples to explore ways to express their love to one another because sexual intercourse is not always available. Also, by communicating about their fertility and their sexuality, couples deepen their relationship. Neither spouse is therefore “taken for granted.” Understanding of each other, responsibility and respect toward self and the other help the marital bond to grow and deepen.
Catholic Teaching on Natural Family Planning
Evangelium Vitae (1995)
The Gospel of Life
In its true meaning, responsible procreation requires couples to be obedient to the Lord’s call and to act as faithful interpreters of his plan. This happens when the family is generously open to new lives, and when couples maintain an attitude of openness and service to life, even if, for serious reasons and in respect for the moral law, they choose to avoid a new birth for the time being or indefinitely. The moral law obliges them in every case to control the impulse of instinct and passion, and to respect the biological laws inscribed in their person. It is precisely this respect which makes legitimate, at the service of responsible procreation, the use of natural methods of regulating fertility.
Familiaris Consortio (1981)
The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World
The choice of the natural rhythms involves accepting the cycle of the person, that is the woman, and thereby accepting dialogue, reciprocal respect, shared responsibility and self- control. To accept the cycle and to enter into dialogue means to recognize both the spiritual and corporal character of conjugal communion and to live personal love with its requirement of fidelity. In this context the couple comes to experience how conjugal communion is enriched with those values of tenderness and affection which constitute the inner soul of human sexuality, in its physical dimension also. In this way sexuality is respected and promoted in its truly and fully human dimension, and is never “used” as an “object” that, by breaking the personal unity of soul and body, strikes at God’s creation itself at the level of the deepest interaction of nature and person.
Humane Vitae (1968)
Of Human Life
The right and lawful ordering of birth demands, first of all, that spouses fully recognize and value the true blessings of family life and that they acquire complete mastery over themselves and their emotions. For if with the aid of reason and of free will they are to control their natural drives, there can be no doubt at all of the need for self-denial. Only then will the expression of love, essential to married life, conform to right order. This is especially clear in the practice of periodic continence. Self-discipline of this kind is a shining witness to the chastity of husband and wife and, far from being a hindrance to their love of one another, transforms it by giving it a more truly human character. And if this self-discipline does demand that they persevere in their purpose and efforts, it has at the same time the salutary effect of enabling husband and wife to develop to their personalities and to be enriched with spiritual blessings. For it brings to family life abundant fruits of tranquility and peace. It helps in solving difficulties of other kinds. It fosters in husband and wife thoughtfulness and loving consideration for one another. It helps them to repel inordinate self-love, which is the opposite of charity. It arouses in them a consciousness of their responsibilities. And finally, it confers upon parents a deeper and more effective influence in the education of their children. As their children grow up, they develop a right sense of values and achieve a serene and harmonious use of their mental and physical powers.
