Birth Control

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Surveys have found that only about 4 percent of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use natural birth control, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

msnbc.msn.com/id/15697161/

How many childbearing age (Catholic only please) use NFP, condoms, the Pill or other forms of birth control?
 
CRW said:
Surveys have found that only about 4 percent of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use natural birth control,
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Yikes! 😦

Your poll may turn out a bit differently than theirs, since there appear to be LOTS of NFP-users on these forums.
 
I’m sort of in the middle of NFP & none. We don’t take temps or chart or count days since I can never remember when was day 1?? but we mostly “avoid” during the fertile times… or times we think we’re fertile… unless we don’t want to avoid… or there’s nothing good on TV… ? Which method is that?
 
I’m happy to see the results you are getting on this forum.

I had heard only 10% of Catholics in America followed the church’s teaching on this. 4% is shocking!

I think the main problem is education. Most of the people I talk to have no idea why the church has this teaching (and they don’t want to hear why, either). Also, most people don’t seem to know (or trust) how affective NFP is.

When I told my mother we were using NFP her response was “I know all about the Rhythm Method. Have you met your sister?” 😃 I spent the next hour trying to explain NFP.
 
We are newly married (46 days), I’m 41 and he’s 29, so we are using the “whatever God decides for us” method. 😃 Works for us!

We are not TTC, but not trying not to either.

~Liza
 
Honestly, would you expect people voting for things that are intrinically evil here on this forum??:eek:
I maybe wrong, but I seriously doubt it:rolleyes:
 
I live in England and I’ve voted :eek: have I messed up your poll???
 
CRW said:
Surveys have found that only about 4 percent of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use natural birth control, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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Catholics not using NFP might be a good thing. Surveys should distinguish between those who don’t use any birth control and those who use contraception.

While I hope the bishops finally address the problem of artificial contraception, I hope they don’t present birth control as good for every marriage. NFP has its proper place in some marriages, but not always in every marriage. NFP confuses many who use artificial contraception and who don’t see much difference between artificial and natural methods of birth control, (except percieved effectiveness and convenience.)

I hope instead of just pushing NFP, the American bishops also encourge Catholic couples to consider having more children. 🙂
 
gardenswithkids said:
Catholics not using NFP might be a good thing. Surveys should distinguish between those who don’t use any birth control and those who use contraception.

While I hope the bishops finally address the problem of artificial contraception, I hope they don’t present birth control as good for every marriage. NFP has its proper place in some marriages, but not always in every marriage. NFP confuses many who use artificial contraception and who don’t see much difference between artificial and natural methods of birth control, (except percieved effectiveness and convenience.)

I hope instead of just pushing NFP, the American bishops also encourge Catholic couples to consider having more children. 🙂
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My understanding of the document the USCCB approved yesterday is that all forms of Birth Contol remain off limits for Catholics to receive Holy Communion or otherwise it is sinful.
 
CRW said:
My understanding of the document the USCCB approved yesterday is that all forms of Birth Contol remain off limits for Catholics to receive Holy Communion or otherwise it is sinful.
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NFP is birth control. It regulates birth by monitoring the natural periods of fertility and infertility that God designed into women. The Church officially teaches that couples should have (depending upon the Latin translation) “just” “grave” or “serious” reasons if they try to avoid pregnancy. If such reasons exist, the couple may use NFP licitly and avoid relations during the woman’s fertile times.

On the other hand, artificial birth control (aka contraception or ABC) for the purpose of avoiding pregnancy on the other hand is objectively a mortal sin; ABC is always illicit. Persons in mortal sin should not recieve Holy Communion until they have repented and gone to confession.

There’s another thread without a poll discussing this survey: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=119425
 
may want to add an option on there for the people that use birth control pills for medical reasons.
 
Aleii said:
may want to add an option on there for the people that use birth control pills for medical reasons.
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There are almost no medical conditions that require BCP. There is usually a better alternative treatment available, but most Dr. are too lazy to use it, because it’s easier to just give the pill. Not a valid reason to take it, IMHO. I have one of these conditions, and I looked for the alternative. It worked, too.
 
gardenswithkids said:
Catholics not using NFP might be a good thing. Surveys should distinguish between those who don’t use any birth control and those who use contraception.

While I hope the bishops finally address the problem of artificial contraception, I hope they don’t present birth control as good for every marriage. NFP has its proper place in some marriages, but not always in every marriage. NFP confuses many who use artificial contraception and who don’t see much difference between artificial and natural methods of birth control, (except percieved effectiveness and convenience.)

I hope instead of just pushing NFP, the American bishops also encourge Catholic couples to consider having more children. 🙂
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USCCB document: usccb.org/laity/marriage/MarriedLove.pdf
 
It’s a slippery slope though. I’ve spoken to many people who have daughters that have told them that they need to take ABC to reduce acne, to regulate their periods, etc.
I used the same reason when I was in college to justify taking the pill. It didn’t change the fact that I ended up using it as birth control anyway.

Both actions were a sin (sex outside of marriage and taking the pill for a reason I really didn’t need it for). My cycle wasn’t “regular” (exactly 28 days) and I found a doctor who thought it was better for a women to have an exact cycle. Trust me, you can always seem to find a doctor who will tell you whatever you want to hear.

I’m not saying that there aren’t valid reasons to use it (so please don’t assume that I am saying that anyone is just looking for a reason to use ABC). I’m just saying that you really need to search your heart to confirm that you are using it for the right reason (and that you’ve looked at all of the other options).
 
Aleii said:
may want to add an option on there for the people that use birth control pills for medical reasons.
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If used for medical reasons (beyond preventing pregnancy and it’s possible complications) then they aren’t really “birth control pills”, but rather medicine that has the undesirable side effect of making the user temporaily infertile.

As mentioned above, some doctors readily prescribe artificial hormones for many things, (possibly thinking that the side effect of infertility is even a good thing), so it’s a good idea to ask about alternatives when doctors recommend such treatment.
 
carol_marie said:
I’m sort of in the middle of NFP & none. We don’t take temps or chart or count days since I can never remember when was day 1?? but we mostly “avoid” during the fertile times… or times we think we’re fertile… unless we don’t want to avoid… or there’s nothing good on TV… ? Which method is that?
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Sounds like the “winging it” method, to me. 😉

We used to use the Billings Method, and now we do pretty much what you guys are doing. If we get pregnant, we’ll consider it a gift, but we’re not specifically trying to. 🙂
 
gardenswithkids said:
I hope instead of just pushing NFP, the American bishops also encourge Catholic couples to consider having more children. 🙂
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I was at Mass last week, there were screams coming from every pew in the church. There were children moving back and forth in the pews, kids dropping books, babies crying during every part of the Mass. Just before the final blessing Father stopped and with a huge smile on his face said “We’ve been asking you to have more children, I’d just like to say thanks for listening!” The whole church broke out in applause.
 
maryj said:
I was at Mass last week, there were screams coming from every pew in the church. There were children moving back and forth in the pews, kids dropping books, babies crying during every part of the Mass. Just before the final blessing Father stopped and with a huge smile on his face said “We’ve been asking you to have more children, I’d just like to say thanks for listening!” The whole church broke out in applause.
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That brought a tear to my eye. Way to go!! 👍
 
maryj said:
I was at Mass last week, there were screams coming from every pew in the church. There were children moving back and forth in the pews, kids dropping books, babies crying during every part of the Mass. Just before the final blessing Father stopped and with a huge smile on his face said “We’ve been asking you to have more children, I’d just like to say thanks for listening!” The whole church broke out in applause.
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Our priest will frequently say, “Now don’t you people go giving dirty looks to those parents. Those babies are just praising the Lord the best they know how!”
😃 He loves babies, and won’t let anyone say a bad word about them being loud.
 
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