Top 10 Questions about Natural Family Planning Answered
1) What is Natural Family Planning?
Natural Family Planning is a method of achieving or avoiding pregnancy that does not involve artificial means. Natural Family Planning (NFP) relies on the female body’s natural cycles to identify fertility. NFP is also called Fertility Awareness. Because every woman’s natural cycles are different and can even change month to month, monitoring, charting, and awareness are part of practicing NFP.
When using Natural Family Planning, couples will abstain from intercourse for a few days before ovulation and for a time after ovulation to avoid pregnancy. For those trying to achieve pregnancy, they will have intercourse during the time of maximum fertility.
No other means of contraception are used if a couple is practicing Natural Family Planning.
Natural Family Planning is completely free, but there may be costs associated with educational courses and tracking devices or apps.
2) Why does the Catholic Church teach Natural Family Planning?
Catholic couples make a vow to be open to life in their marriage. There is no expectation that couples would have children or have a certain number of children. The Church understands that most couples cannot have baby after baby for all of their reproductive years for a variety of reasons.
Having an openness to life, but using natural cues to avoid or postpone pregnancy, is acceptable to the Catholic Church; therefore, Natural Family Planning is endorsed and taught by the Church.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says, “The Catholic Church supports the methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) because they respect God’s design for married love. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy.”
3) Why is Natural Family planning Morally Acceptable?
Natural Family Planning does not present any risk to the users. Surgical, chemical, and device-based birth control methods all have potential side effects.
Because Natural Family Planning leaves open the possibility of pregnancy, it is considered morally acceptable. There is also no chance of the ending of a pregnancy due to a drug or device that could contribute to a miscarriage.
NFP honors biology and nature and builds awareness and respect between a husband and wife. Spouses who use NFP in a healthy relationship can develop increased respect for each other. The exercise of periodic self-control of sexual impulses carries into different areas of marriage as spouses learn to put others’ needs before their own.
The Catholic Church teaches that the purpose of sex is unitive (brings the couple closer together on a spiritual level) and procreative (life could be created), therefore using sex for other purposes is not morally acceptable.
NFP is also completely free to use and is available to everyone.
More information on Catholic teaching on birth control and the sanctity of human life can be found in Humanae Vitae, the encyclical written in 1968 by Pope Paul IV.
The full document: https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html.
Natural Family Planning also has no environmental impact. Chemical birth control has negative impacts on the environment as hormones can be excreted into the water supply.
4) How does Natural Family Planning Work?
Natural Family Planning involves a woman tracking her menstrual cycles and observing and recording her signs of fertility (cervical mucus, temperature, cervical position, and others).
The woman is trying to become aware of ovulation and be able to accurately predict it month after month. Sperm can live for three to five days after intercourse. An egg is viable for only 12-24 hours. So, a couple practicing NFP will abstain from sex for several days before expected ovulation and a day or two after ovulation to reasonably avoid pregnancy.
There are several methods of Natural Family Planning. According to the National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information, those methods include:
- Billings and Creighton Methods: These methods rely on the observation of cervical secretions. This method requires considerable instruction for effective use.
- Two Day Method: This method is based on cervical secretions and is similar to the above. Couples abstain when secretions are present and for two days after.
- Symptothermal Method: This method combines awareness of cervical secretions with basal body temperature monitoring. Charting and tracking are part of the method.
- Marquette Model: This method combines monitoring of cervical secretions with using an electronic device to measure the levels of estrogen and luteinizing hormone (LH) in the urine.
There are other ways to monitor and track cycles and predict ovulation with apps. Some are intended for simple period tracking, while others are specifically for monitoring fertility.
Some examples of technology-based fertility monitoring include:
5) Which Natural Family Planning Method is Best?
The best Natural Family Planning method is the one that works best for the couple and fits their lifestyle. When used correctly, all NFP methods have about the same success rate.
Getting a clear understanding of all of the methods and the technology that can be used to support them (apps, websites, online courses) is the first step. Couples should take time to read about the methods well before marriage. A woman doesn’t have to be married to start monitoring her fertility. A man doesn’t have to be married to get educated about NFP and what it means for his future wife.
If a couple has a reason to avoid pregnancy, a method with more days of abstinence may be a better choice during that season of life. If a couple is open to pregnancy, but not actively trying to conceive, a method that requires less diligent tracking and abstinence may be the best choice.
Education, research, and preparation will help couples find the method of Natural Family Planning that works best for them as they enter into married life.
Some helpful websites include:
6) How can Natural Family Planning Benefit Marriage?
Natural Family Planning respects life – not just the life of a possible baby, but the life of the man and the woman in a marriage. Marriage is built on mutual respect and love and NFP is integral to that love and respect on the most intimate level. Couples have to be on the same page for Natural Family Planning to work.
7) Why is Natural Family Planning part of Catholic Marriage Prep or Pre-Cana?
For many years, married couples gave up on NFP because of a lack of accessible information. The days of NFP being a mystery are over. Reliable science-based and user-friendly NFP is easy to access and is a natural fit and an essential component of Catholic Marriage Prep or Pre-Cana.
8) How effective is Natural Family Planning?
Natural Family Planning methods have been demonstrated to be effective ways to achieve or postpone pregnancy. Failure rates range from .4% to 25%, but there are many variables.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, “The symptothermal method, which monitors basal body temperature, cervical secretions, cervical position, and cycle patterns to predict periods of fertility, has been proven effective: its failure rate is 0.4 percent per year with perfect use, and 7.5 percent per year with typical use.
The effectiveness of the TwoDay method rivals that of condoms: with perfect use, the TwoDay Method has a 4 percent annual rate of unintended pregnancy compared with 2 percent for condoms; with typical use, 14 percent compared with 18 percent for condoms.” The full article can be found here: https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2012/1115/od1.html.
9) Why does Natural Family Planning Fail?
The main reason that Natural Family Planning sometimes fails to prevent pregnancy is user error. Couples may have been poorly instructed or misunderstood the instructions. Another reason for the failure of NFP is that the couple ignored the instructions and had intercourse too close to ovulation to avoid pregnancy.
10) How can you learn more about Natural Family Planning?
The Marriage Group offers a fully online and on-demand course in Natural Family Planning. The course covers the reasons the Catholic Church endorses NFP, the science behind it, and the benefits of NFP.
Some parishes and dioceses offer NFP courses, as do some Catholic healthcare facilities. A great resource is on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website: https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/find-nfp-class.
NFP Life® featuring Dr. Danielle & Kyle Koestner, Daria Bailey & Natalie Klinkhammer, and Jessie Wiegand — This foundational Natural Family Planning course covers the Catholic Church’s teaching on human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood. It also provides detailed information about the biomarkers that indicate fertility and how to track them, so couples can choose a method of NFP that fits their lifestyle. Watch the trailer below and have your couples register here.
