Living Catholicism: NFP: The Natural Choice for Couples

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August 3, 2007

NFP: The Natural Choice for Couples

One thing I love about the Church's doctrines is how natural they are. The more perfect we become in living the truth, the more harmonious we are with all of creation. The Church's teaching on contraception is an excellent example of this. I always thought that hippie/earthy people would really appreciate it and we could use it as easy common ground for evangelization. But if anyone studies the benefits of Natural Family Planning, they'll have a hard time arguing against this beautiful teaching.

The benefits are many, and if you would like to explore them in greater detail, visit the Couple to
Couple League web site at www.ccli.org. Here I will only highlight some of them.
1) NFP strengthens marriage. Of the statistical data that has been recorded. A study found that from 1,098 couples who have been certified to teach NFP since 1971, only 15, or 1.4% have divorced. It is estimated that, of couples who have been taught NFP, only 4.2% of those couples have divorced. This divorce rate is far below the national average.
"How does it strengthen marriage?" You may ask.
A) Periodic abstaining keeps the honeymoon in the relationship
B) Periodic abstaining increases communication between the spouses, especially about important issues like children, personal goals, and finances.
C) Periodic abstaining helps the spouses appreciate each other better and show their love for each other in different ways when they have to abstain from intercourse.
2) NFP is safe and healthy. Unlike artificial contraception, there are no drugs, invasive devices, or surgeries used in NFP. These contraceptives have undesirable and some even risky side effects.
3) NFP is highly effective. The Sympto-Thermal Method can be used at the 99% level of effectiveness to postpone or avoid pregnancy, which is an effectiveness level as high or higher than all artificial methods except sterilization.
4) NFP is immediately reversible. When a couple wants to conceive a baby, they just have to wait for the woman's next fertile cycle, but this is not so pharmaceutical or surgical methods of contraception. Some of the most painful regrets are from couples who went to great lengths to sterilize themselves, but now have changed their minds and are having difficulty regaining their fertility.

One of the most common objections to NFP is that it has the same objective of artificial contraception, that is, to avoid pregnancy, so why not use the latter? The answer is that NFP obeys the Natural Law that God created, so the means to the end are moral with NFP. Also, the couple remains open to life, and if God so wishes, He will bless that marital act with life. Let us pray for an end to contraception, and that all married couples would remain open to life and God's will.

In Christ,
Daniel

Posted by jay at August 3, 2007 12:30 PM