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United States bishops have designated July 24-30 as Natural Family Planning (NFP) Week. They view NFP as a gift to the church and offer it to others willing to try it.
Natural Family Planning is a modern approach to family planning, approved by the church. Those typically interested in learning about NFP are married Catholics in their child-bearing years. NFP carries no harmful side effects and can be used either to achieve or to postpone pregnancy at any time.
NFP is most suitable for married couples and is best taught to couples, rather than just to wives.
“The supportive cooperation of husbands is critical to correct use,” said Henrietta O’Connor, archdiocesan director of Natural Family Planning. NFP is “couple-based” and enjoys “great satisfaction among users who learn the method and follow it.”
“Numerous scientific studies have validated the reliability of NFP when used properly,” O’Connor continued. She compared following the rules of NFP to following the rules in banking. “Most errors in checkbook balancing arise from the customer’s mistakes rather than those from the computer program at the bank,” she pointed out. “I’ve taught NFP for more than 25 years and almost all unintended NFP pregnancies have resulted from misuse of the method rather than failure of the method itself.”
When asked why NFP is gaining more acceptance in spite of the periodic abstinence required, O’Connor shared that for many people NFP simply “makes sense.”
She continued, “Periodic abstinence is a routine part of every marriage. Whether from children, separation, illness (acute or long-standing), depressed libido in one spouse, or just plain tiredness, couples experience the absence of love-making throughout their married lives.”
“It makes sense to deal with it as a routine part of married life rather than as an extraordinary, additional stress on the couple,” concluded O’Connor.
Another benefit of NFP is the shared decision-making that it necessarily entails. Other methods of family planning (contraception, sterilization, abortion) by their nature involve the decision of one spouse, but not a joint decision and action. Couples who regularly make joint decisions about important issues (such as to conceive or not to conceive), and live with their decisions are going to strengthen their marital bond.
Although the church didn’t invent or design NFP, she has consistently promoted it, believing it to be a moral method of dealing with marital family planning. Nevertheless, many who employ NFP are not even Catholic. And many Catholics still believe that NFP is the same as “rhythm.”
“That’s a serious misunderstanding that we encounter frequently,” said O’Connor. “Rhythm required regularity in the woman’s cycle to be effective and most women are simply not regular. NFP, on the other hand, is based on observations “unique to each woman and each cycle, and utterly independent of regularity for its effect” which makes it useful throughout the reproductive life of the couple.”
Introductory sessions about NFP are held frequently throughout the archdiocese and are followed the same evening by the initial class for those who decide to learn more.
Classes require three personalized follow-ups guided by trained teachers. Announcements of class times appear regularly in parish bulletins. Fees for the classes are based on a sliding scale, and couples are not refused for lack of money. Instruction is also available in Spanish.
For more information call Henrietta O’Connor, associate director of the archdiocesan Family Life Office at (210) 734-2620, ext. 213, or e-mail her at hoconnor@archdiosa.org.
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