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Question
#1
How is NFP different from other birth control methods?
How does its effectiveness
compare?
Answer:
NFP (Natural Family
Planning) is different from artificial birth control in many ways:
NFP is healthy. All artificial birth control
methods have possible side effects, some of which can be quite serious. Natural Family
Planning has no side effects, and is a healthy non-invasive choice for family planning.
Some artificial methods (particularly the
hormonal methods, the IUD, and sterilization) can have long-term impacts for the future
fertility of the couple. Natural Family Planning allows the couple to cooperate with the
reproductive process, rather than suppress or destroy it, so it will not negatively impact
the couple’s ability to conceive and bear children in the future.
Natural Family Planning can be used at any stage of
a woman’s reproductive life: breastfeeding, regular or irregular cycles,
pre-menopause, and can be vitally important in infertility situations.
Natural Family Planning is not a birth control. A
couple learns to identify the fertile and infertile days of the cycle and can respond
appropriately, either to achieve or avoid a pregnancy. It is a true method of family
planning, and this is a fundamental difference between it and artificial birth control
methods.
Natural Family Planning is morally acceptable.
Natural Family Planning is especially helpful to
infertile couples. Not only does it allow them to accurately identify the days of
fertility in each cycle, but it also serves as an important tool in the evaluation of
fertility and the timing of diagnostic procedures.
Because Natural Family Planning is about growing in
understanding of a couple’s mutual fertility, it invites shared responsibility and
enhances communication.
The foundation of NFP is that fertility is a normal
and healthy process, and a couple need only educate themselves about this process to
integrate the love-giving and life-giving natures of their sexuality. In contrast,
artificial birth control attempts to separate the procreative and unitive nature of
intercourse, medicating or surgically eliminating fertility as if it was an illness or
abnormality in need of medical treatment.
I
could go on, but I think
this at least begins to answer your question about what makes NFP different from
artificial birth control.
In
regards to your question about effectiveness, Natural Family Planning is as effective as
birth control pills to avoid a pregnancy, and more effective than any other drug or device
used to prevent pregnancy (except sterilization, but even this method is not 100%
effective). A good reference for this is a study published in the June 1998 issue of
Journal of Reproductive Medicine entitled "Creighton Model NaProEducation Technology
to Avoid Pregnancy: Use Effectiveness". This 14 year multi-center study concluded the
method and use effectiveness rates of the Creighton Model NFP method for avoiding
pregnancy to be 99.5% and 96.4% respectively.
I
notice this question comes from Southern California! May I suggest you consider a
membership in the California Association of Natural Family Planning if you would like to
know more about these issues? Thanks for the great question!
This
question was answered by Sheila
St. John, CNFPP. Mrs. St. John is a Certified Natural Family
Planning Practitioner, and has taught NFP since 1982 in Monterey and
Santa Cruz Counties.
She is currently the Executive Director of CANFP.
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and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis and treatment by a
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