There are at least 30 studies that I can think of out there that show that NFP has an effectiveness of about 99%+ at preventing pregnancy.
But another big huge study has just come out from Germany today showing exactly the same thing. (it was published in the journal of Reproductive Medicine which is very very prestigious)
Here is a BBC article on it.
I don't want to come across like someone who thinks that NFP is "Catholic birth-control"; I obviously don't see it as that at all.
However, living in a world where 99%+ of Catholics use artificial contraception, part of the reason why they don't want to use NFP is because they are afraid.
Afraid that it will "fail" and they will get pregnant.
(sure they also don't understand the Church's teaching, and don't care enough to understand it. That's due to a lack of love for Christ, but it's a lot harder to teach someone that).
I think it is really important to try and show these people NFP is very very effective at pregnancy prevention.
Then, once they trust NFP as a method, and start using it in their marriage, the mere act of using it will, I wholeheartedly believe, transform their entire perspective on sexual relations, and on children, and so through it, they will become more open to life (and probably end up having more babies!!).
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All good points. Thank you, Antonia! I thought I was practicing NFP for the first 6 years or so of our marriage but it wasn't until I had some losses and actually took the course and used it to GET pregnant that I really learned what it is all about. Since that 6th pregnancy (4th living child) I have thrown away any charts and even though I now REALLY know when I'm fertile, I don't care either way if God decides our family needs to be bigger or not! It is a huge fruit of NFP that I don't really USE it! That sounds funny but it's true. NFP made me look at our fertility in a totally different way!
Hey Antonia!
Thanks for checking out my blog :) I feel loved, lol! This is such a great topic, and so contravercial among Catholics and Christians alike. I'm glad you made the point it isn't Catholic birth control. :) I'd love to talk with you besides just blogger, if you have time. Feel free to email me at acountrybabe@juno.com :)
God Bless, Laura
Is the main disadvantage the fact you need to be able to have regular cycles for it to work?
Also, I was wondering whether the combined pill is acceptable for Catholics to take if they require it for medical reasons (eg mennorhagia).
I'm doing O&G at the moment, and these questions often pop in my mind. From a medical point of view, of course, not a personal point of view! (hehe!)
Hi Laura! I know exactly what you mean, NFP does totally change's one heart and attitude toward openness to new life.
I am very sorry by the way to hear of your 2 miscarriages. That must've been very very difficult.
Dragonflyer's LB:
An email will be shortly flying your way!
Matt:
hi! No, a woman most certainly does not need to have regular cycles to use NFP.
With NFP a woman tracks her changing fertility day-by-day, she knows excactly what is going on 'today' in her body; she knows if she is approaching ovulation, is ovulating, has already ovulated etc.
So it doesn't matter how regular her cycles are, because she follows her body's changing fertility as it happens, day by day.
(NFP is not in any way the same as the calender method)
Also, yeh, by the doctrine of double effect, you can take something like the OCP if its intended use is medical e.g. for menorrhagia.
I would still feel pretty uneasy prescribing this if I knew the woman was having sexual relations(knowing that it might still kill any little embryos that are conceived), so I guess it's prudent to make sure it's an absolute last restort (i.e. you have tried all other medical therapy first to try and reduce the menorrhagia).
But yeh, the CCC explicitly mentions this usage and says it's okay if it intention is to treat a medical problem, and not contraception.
-x-
This is what Pope Paul VI wrote on that issue:
"[T]he Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever."
(Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 15)
The combined Oral contraceptive pill does not cause early abortions; it stops ovulation from happening.
Hi Matt,
I am sorry but you are very much mistaken.
The combined oral contraceptive works in 3 ways:
1. By preventing ovulation
2. By increasing the thickness of cervical mucus to prevent the passage of sperm
3. By suppressing the development of the uterine lining, thereby preventing implantation of an embryo should conception happen.
It is postulated that the main mode of drug action is by suppressing ovulation, but noone really knows how often that fails, and how often fertilisation DOES occur, but implantation is prevented.
Even a quick google search for
"Mode of action combined oral contraceptive"
led me to this pro-choice site which clearly states that that is how oral contraceptive works
http://www.by-choice-not-chance.com/en/pages/03/c_03_02_01.php
Plus, I have read the packaging inside a packet of Oral Contraceptives (trade-name: CILEST) and it admitted these 3 modes of action.
so because the combined oral contracptive pill acts also to prevent implantation of an embryo should fertilisation occur, it *is* viewed by pro-lifers as being an abortifacient.
ps--
another link from the well-known GP notebook-site:
" The combined pill prevents pregnancy by:
1. suppressing ovulation - mediated by inhibiting GnRH
2. altering the cervical mucus making it less penetrable by spermatozoa
3. interfering with transport of ova in the fallopian tube
4. inducing atrophic change in the endometrium so as not to be conducive to implantation "
http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=-483065835&linkID=25040&cook=no
( I admit I didn't know reason '3' that they quote)
Also, Matt, the ingredient most effective in stopping ovulation is estrogen. The problem is that big doses of estrogen cause heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer problems in women. The current o.c. has decreased the amounts of estrogen so that women don't have to die, but making it MUCH more likely the third aspect of the oc kicks in.
great point RCM; thanks for pointing that out!
Thanks for the tip!
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