Fertility
awareness:
We've come a long way since the rhythm method
By Tricia Ballad
We've come a long way since the
rhythm method of the 1920s, which was based on a one-size-fits-all
theory of fertility. It worked -- as long as your cycles were
exactly 28 days long and you ovulated right on schedule at
day fourteen. Women's cycles being what they are, it's no wonder
we're still living with the old joke: "You know what they
call women who use the rhythm method, don't you? ‘Mothers!’"
The Fertility Awareness Methods
(FAM) available today work on a completely individualized level.
FAM is based on the fact that our bodies exhibit observable
symptoms of fertility, and by accurately observing those symptoms
we can determine times when we are more or less fertile. Unlike
men, women’s reproductive capabilities aren't always “on." In
fact, most women are only fertile for six to 10 days out of
the month. Once a woman knows whether or not she is fertile
at any given time, she and her partner can act accordingly
to achieve or avoid pregnancy.
Philosophically, FAM gives women
a greater awareness of the changes their bodies go through
day by day. It also allows men to become active participants
in family planning. Fertility becomes less of a "female
issue" to be dealt with between a woman and her OB/GYN
and more of an issue to be managed by couples.
| Method Typical
Pregnancy Rate per 100 Women
Chance (no method) 85%
Sponge 28% (women
who have given birth)
Spermicides 21%
Periodic abstinence
20% (including couples who broke the rules)
Withdrawal 18%
Cervical cap 18%
Diaphragm 18%
Condom 12%
IUD 3%
Pill 3%
NET 0.4%
Female sterilization
0.4%
DMPA 0.3%
Fertility Awareness
Method 0.22-1.2%
Male sterilization
0.15%
Norplant (6 capsules)
0.04%
Norplant-2 0.03%
Source: A Literature Review of the Effectiveness
of Natural Family Planning, Seth Goldstein,
DC; cited in Mothering magazine, July/August
2003.
|
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Non-hormonal alternatives
Up until a few years ago, I was (like most women) unaware that viable alternatives
to barrier methods and hormonal birth control even existed. To be honest,
barrier methods were mood killers for my husband and me. I would start
taking the Pill, then stop after a few months because I hated how it made
me feel: artificial. I didn't like feeling dependent on these drugs. I
would become depressed and stop taking them because I was too tired all
the time to even think about sex anyway. A few months later, I would start
feeling better emotionally but dreaded every physical encounter because
of the awkwardness of condoms and the fear of pregnancy. We hated the cycle
but didn't see any alternative. When I consulted my doctor, she offered
me IUDs or different versions of the Pill. This went on for almost five
years.
Then we heard about natural family
planning through our church. We were skeptical -- after all,
the church is well known for its anti-birth control stance.
Of course they would endorse anything that wasn't birth control,
right? Tempted by the possibility of breaking out of the cycle
we were in, my husband and I immediately began searching for
hard, scientific evidence that this NFP thing was legitimate.
Uppermost in our minds was the question, "Does it work
reliably?"
Ultimately, what we discovered
was that when used properly – the same disclaimer used
for condoms and the Pill – FAM is more than 99% effective.
That’s as effective as the Pill!
The World Health Organization
recommends FAM in third-world countries based on its ease of
use, minimal cost and reliability. My husband and I decided
that if this method could work for couples with little or no
education, few resources and everything to lose by creating
another mouth to feed, it could work for us as well. So we
decided to try it out for a few months.
That first month was a bit scary
-- here we were, having "unsafe sex”! We were sure
that I'd be pregnant by the end of the month. I had never been
so excited to start my period. Yet it was also the moment when
I first truly believed that my old cycle of birth control/fear
of pregnancy/back to birth control could really be over. After
four years, we've never regretted the decision to use FAM.
Sometimes the methods can seem difficult, but the momentary
difficulties are nothing compared to the problems we experienced
with other methods.
Watch future issues of Natural
Family Online for further installments in our series on Fertility
Awareness Methods, including a look at FAM from a man’s
perspective; an exploration of why FAM seems to be so vigorously
ignored by mainstream health care practitioners; and FAM methods
and techniques.
Tricia Ballad
works with Natural
Family online and Busy
Parents Online Magazine as their parent authority in
Natural Family Planning. She just gave birth to a healthy
baby, right on schedule.
