Natural Family Planning Frequently Asked Questions

1. How much does the Natural Family Planning class cost?

Within the Diocese of La Crosse, the basic price for NFP instruction averages $100. For this fee, the couple will receive three to four classes of instruction that are scheduled over a two month period, the training manual, learning activities, a thermometer, charts to use in tracking the cycle, Diocesan Newsletter, as well as unlimited client follow-up services as long as you need them. 

In some areas, couples may want to enroll in the Fertility Care™ Medical model of NFP. This program, which is available in the Stevens Point area, is individualized for the client and costs approximately $250. The Fertility Care™ Medical model takes approximately 6 months to complete.



2. How do we register for an NFP class?

You can register for an NFP class by calling the NFP program office at 800-255-6226 or by e-mailing your request for instruction to nfp@dioceseoflacrosse.com. The coordinators of the program will send you the registration information in the mail as well as answer any questions that you have.

3. How long does it take to become confident in using NFP?

Most couples find that they can use NFP effectively to either achieve or postpone pregnancy within 4-6 cycles of use. Within the Diocese of La Crosse, client couples are encouraged to have their first 6 charted cycles evaluated by their trained instructors. Couples who take advantage of the follow-up services provided by the NFP program become confident more quickly than those who try to do it on their own.



4. How is NFP different from other birth control methods?

NFP (Natural Family Planning) is different from artificial birth control in many ways: NFP is healthy. All artificial birth control methods have possible side effects, some of which can be quite serious. Natural Family Planning has no side effects, and is a healthy non-invasive choice for family planning.

Some artificial methods (particularly hormonal methods [pill, patch, etc.], the IUD, and sterilization) can have long-term impacts for the future fertility of the couple. Natural Family Planning allows the couple to cooperate with the reproductive process, rather than suppress or destroy it. NFP does not negatively impact the couple’s ability to conceive and bear children in the future.

Natural Family Planning can be used at any stage of a woman’s reproductive life: breastfeeding, regular or irregular cycles, pre-menopause, and can be vitally important in infertility situations.

Natural Family Planning is more than a birth control method because it can be used to either achieve or avoid the creation of a new life. A couple learns to identify the fertile and infertile days of the cycle and respond appropriately, by either timing intercourse during the fertile phase of the cycle to achieve a pregnancy or abstain from any genital contact during the fertile time to avoid a pregnancy. It is a true method of family planning.

Natural Family Planning is morally acceptable. It is aligned with Catholic Church teachings on life and love.

Natural Family Planning is especially helpful to infertile couples. Not only does it allow them to accurately identify the days of fertility in each cycle, but it also serves as an important tool in the evaluation of fertility and the timing of diagnostic procedures.

Because Natural Family Planning assists each couple in their understanding of their mutual fertility, it invites shared responsibility and enhances communication.

The foundation of NFP is that fertility is a normal and healthy process, and a couple need only educate themselves about this process to integrate the love-giving and life-giving natures of their sexuality. In contrast, artificial birth control attempts to separate the procreative and unitive nature of intercourse, medicating or surgically eliminating fertility as if it was an illness or abnormality in need of medical treatment.

5. If a couple wants to use NFP to postpone pregnancy, what is the difference between NFP and the use of a contraceptive?

NFP and contraception are very different from one another, even if the intent of both is to limit or postpone pregnancy. When a couple uses NFP to postpone pregnancy, they are respecting their couple fertility by observing its signs and making a decision as a couple to limit. They keep their focus on their common good and on the wonderful gift of fertility that God has given them.
With contraception, either the husband or the wife has to alter their body in some way to prevent fertility from working. Further, the couple using contraception does not have to make a daily decision regarding the importance of their sexual union. Rather than making a “couple decision” they can defer their responsibility of family planning to either the husband or the wife. This opens up the possibility of harming the common union between the couple or may promote using the other person.

 

6. Why does the Church teach that contraception is wrong?

The main reason why the Church states that contraception is wrong is that using any form of contraception separates the unifying power (bonding) of sexual intercourse from the life giving power of sexual intercourse. As we have discussed, sexual union is to be the most defining expression of human love. It is to reflect a complete and total gift of self between spouses. When the two goods of marriage (love and life) are separated, the couple begins to erode the common, unique bond that exists between them. It becomes very possible for each of them to view the other as an object of their pleasure (a thing to be used). The qualities of tenderness, interdependence, and selflessness upon which a faithful, happy marriage are built begin to wear away. Thus, contraception places the common good of the spouses themselves in peril.

 

7. Many people need to use some form of contraception to regulate their menstrual cycles. Is it wrong to use a contraceptive if it is medically prescribed?

There are some women who have cycles that are irregular. This is typically caused when hormone levels that regulate the cycle fall outside of a normal pattern. The goal then should be to restore the hormone levels to normal and correct patterns.

When a physician prescribes birth control hormones within the pill or the patch to “regulate” a cycle, he or she is not restoring the hormones to the correct levels. Rather, these birth control hormones manipulate the body to produce lower than normal levels so that the irregular cycle is covered up.

If a woman really wants to correct menstrual irregularities, it would be recommended that she see a physician who is trained in Fertility CareTM – a specialized field that identifies the basic cycle problems and the works towards the restoration of hormone levels.



8. If all this is true about NFP and contraceptives, why haven’t we heard about this from our doctors?



There are three main reasons why NFP is not widely promoted by the medical field. First, NFP does not provide large economic profits. Thus the amount of money generated for research and development is low. In the case of contraceptives, pharmaceutical firms have been responsible for the research and development because there is a large monetary gain that can be made through the use of a pill, patch or device that can be sold to women during their reproductive years. With NFP, there has been limited funding for research and development because there is no “product” that will be mass - produced and sold again and again. Most NFP classes have a one-time fee while contraceptives are purchased again and again.

Secondly, most medical schools offer less than 10 hours of specific training on NFP to their medical students. The basic science of NFP is simply not taught to new doctors. Therefore, many doctors are not even aware of natural methods and their effectiveness. This trend is changing however as a result of the increased risks involved with extended hormone use. More and more women are requesting non-hormonal methods of family planning. Thus, doctors are being required to learn more about NFP.

Finally, most doctors do not believe that their clients will take the time to learn and use NFP correctly and consistently. Therefore they are reluctant to suggest it as a family planning method. It is much easier to prescribe a pill, patch or device that can be utilized quickly. Again, this trend is also changing because more women are asking for NFP instruction.



9. I have very irregular cycles. Can I use NFP effectively?

The answer is “YES”!  NFP effectiveness comes from the evaluation of each cycle on its own merits. Thus, a woman who knows and understands the five indicators of fertility can easily determine when she is and is not fertile in any cycle.

Women who do have irregular cycles may find that it will take them one or two more cycles to determine their fertility indicators than women with regular cycles. It is very important for clients with cycle irregularities to stay in close contact with their trained instructor who will offer them guidance.

 

10. I have heard that the pill has several negative side effects. Is that true?


Dr. Mary Davenport, an Obstetrician/Gynecologist trained in Fertility CareTM is very concerned about women’s use of any birth control pills. The following is an article that she has written.

Numerous studies of breast cancer have shown that longer duration of estrogen stimulation and higher dosages of estrogen increase breast cancer. High dosages of estrogen are required to prevent ovulation, the main purpose of birth control pills. Even low-dose pills have double or triple the average amount of estrogen present in a woman’s cycle. The safety of using birth control pills for the ten years of peri-menopause, as is currently being promoted, is not supported by long-term, large-scale controlled studies following women in this age group on these relatively high-dose preparations.

The potent artificial estrogen in birth control pills, ethinyl estradiol, comes only in a one-size–fits-all dose.

The bio-identical estrogens, estradiol and estriol, can be given in a range of doses tailored to a woman’s individual needs. The smallest necessary dose given during the part of the cycle in which a woman is deficient in estrogen can give the benefits of estrogen therapy with a lower risk of serious health consequences, as well as fewer side effects of excess estrogen such as breast tenderness, bloating and weight gain.

The progestin, the second artificial hormone in birth control pills, can have serious cardiovascular effects.

The second generation-progestins, gestodyne, desogestrel, and norgestimate are associated with an increased incidence of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). The 3-5% of Caucasian women who carry a particular gene for blood clotting (factor V Leiden mutation) have a 30-50 fold risk of DVT with these preparations. Levonorgestrel and norethindrone, the first-generation progestins derived from testosterone, increase LDL (bad cholesterol) and decrease HDL (good cholesterol). Unlike these artificial hormones, natural progesterone in the luteal phase (last half) of the menstrual cycle can help eliminate abnormal bleeding, as well as improve PMS and sleep, without the serious cardiovascular risks.

Birth control pills can cause other serious medical problems.

Glucose intolerance, gall bladder disease and hepatocellular adenoma, are all promoted by oral contraceptive use.

 

Birth control pills can cause minor health problems and side effects.
Weight gain, depression, and diminished sex drive have all been associated with oral contraceptive use.

Safer and better ways exist for peri-menopausal women to prevent pregnancy.

Non-hormonal methods of fertility control have long been considered much safer for this age group. The FertilityCareTM ovulation monitoring method has a 98-99% effectiveness rate for preventing pregnancy, and has the additional benefit of obtaining valuable information on a woman’s own estrogen and progesterone levels from self-monitoring cycle length, length of luteal phase, and quantity and quality of cervical mucus. Fertility is markedly diminished in women over forty-five. It is particularly hard to justify long-term, high-dose artificial hormones for birth control in this age group.

Birth control pills can at times prevent pregnancy by altering the lining of the uterus.
This can prevent implantation of an already existing embryo. Some women have moral and ethical objections to using birth control pills and hormonal contraception for this reason.

And for women who wish to become pregnant:

Birth control pills can have long-lasting effects on fertility, even after being discontinued. The main mechanism by which birth control pills prevent pregnancy is the suppression of ovulation. Although for many women suppression of ovulation reverses within a few months, there are a substantial percentage of women (especially those with underlying hormonal problems and who are put on the pill to control bleeding) whose cycles and hormones are impaired for many months and even years after oral contraceptives. One percent of women who use oral contraceptives will NEVER ovulate again without using fertility drugs to induce ovulation. In addition, research by Dr. Eric Odeblad of Sweden has shown PERMANENT impairment of cervical mucus production, which is vital to achieving pregnancy, in women who have used birth control pills. The ranks of women in their thirties experiencing infertility includes a very large percentage who have used oral contraceptives to control their fertility in their teens and twenties. For women who wish to become pregnant in the future, there are much safer methods of fertility control which do not have permanent, adverse effects on childbearing ability.