I was so happy to see an article online recently about natural methods of birth control. The article explained how fertility awareness methods work in an accurate and positive way. What was not so positive were some of the comments like, “Natural birth control is the same as…pregnant”.
It is so sad that so many women do not understand how their bodies work and that they are only fertile about a 100 HOURS a month! The egg when released only lives 12-24 hours tops and conception can only occur for about 12 of those hours. So- why are we fertile for longer that the 12-24 hours that the egg lives?? Well, there is a mucus that is produced by the cervix as the egg matures within the follicle inside the ovary. The rising estrogen levels from the maturing egg cause the cervix to begin to produce this mucus when ovulation is close. A woman can detect the appearance and presence of this mucus as easily as she can tell when she is menstruating. Sperm can live up to 5 days in the cervical mucus produced during the fertile time of a woman’s cycle. This cervical secretion is absolutely essential for conception to occur. I call it the ‘white period’.
Every woman is able to tell when she is menstruating- having her ‘red period’. She can tell the difference between a heavy flow and a light flow just by sensation. She can even detect light spotting by solely by what she feels. She confirms this by what she sees. It is the same for the ‘white period’, her fertile time. She can detect it by what she feels and what she sees. AND if she understands the significance of it and how to act around it, a couple can plan their family VERY effectively- in fact- it is the MOST effective way to either avoid pregnancy or to achieve pregnancy because the couple knows EXACTLY when conception could occur.
In terms of avoiding pregnancy, there is NO method more effective- there is NOTHING more effective for avoiding pregnancy- NOTHING- than to not have sex when conception could actually occur. Nothing. With every other kind of birth control- a couple is potentially having sex when the woman is fertile. There is no method that is 100%- not even sterilization- because the couple may be having sex when they are potentially fertile.
In terms of achieving pregnancy, the couple can use the days when it would be most advantages and when the signs most obviously indicate that ovulation is occurring.
WIth natural family planning, the times of abstinence from intercourse or genital contact during the fertile time if the couple is postponing pregnancy, gives the couple an opportunity to express love in other ways-a courtship period each month- which also creates a kind of honeymoon period each month. Just because a couple is abstaining from sex doesn’t mean they have to abstain from hand-holding, going out to dinner, talking, playing games, going on walks etc.- all the things that would make a couple want to have sex in the first place! I think this is the reason that couples who use fertility awareness methods (natural family planning, NFP, The Ovulation Method, etc) have sex more often. There are studies that prove this!! I have attached one below.
Isn’t it about time we stopped treating our fertility as some kind of disease to be medicated? Isn’t it about time we women honored our own beauty, our own fertility and our biology and worked with it instead of against it? Isn’t it about time we expected the men in our lives to do the same?
Talk about freedom, respect, love and real women’s lib!
Published Studies on The Ovulation Method of NFP (Natural Family Planning):
