Why I Believe In Natural Family Planning

• When a trained couple wants to avoid pregnancy, it's 98% effective. This is the same (or better) than any form of artificial birth control on the market. Natural Family Planning Method As Effective As Contraceptive Pill, New Research Finds
• My wife and I have planned our three children to within a few months of their birth. It is not only extremely effective at preventing pregnancy, but it helps achieve pregnancy when you're ready. And my wife has crazy, irregular cycles.
• NFP is NOT contraception. It's not pulling out. It's not the Rhythm Method or the Calendar Method of the past. It's a modern, scientifically-based means of understanding a women's fertility cycle.
• NFP is totally healthy and carries none of the side-effects or long-term health consequences of hormonal birth control.
• NFP is no longer a Catholic thing or even a religious thing. It is becoming increasingly popular among those who care about their health, our environment and even women's rights (how's that for coming full circle?).

2. Misunderstanding Contraception: The birth control pill gives women great freedom and is certainly a cure for society's ills, right? This was the thought in the U.S. when it became popular in the 1960s. It is no coincidence that our society has seen what many would consider a major moral decline since that time. Skyrocketing divorce rates, epidemic levels of STDs, all-time-high numbers of abortions and a regrettable degradation in the value we place on human life. There's no time or need to go deeply into the religious aspects of family planning. However, I have to point out to the Christian readers of this site that contraception in any form was considered immoral and sinful by every major Christian denomination until the 1930s and most until the 1960s. This isn't a "Catholic thing" when it comes to morality. I'll also share that any form of the pill has the potential to act as an abortifacient. While you may be morally OK with contraception, I'd encourage you to get the facts on this particular "side effect" if you oppose abortion and believe that life begins at conception. A few more key points to keep in mind: