Need NFP information for College Class

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In my Marriage and Family Life class the next chapter is on pregnancy and family planning. I’ve read the book and it’s a bit tough on NFP methods, saying they can be confusing and unless the woman’s been trained then they can be unreliable. Obviously I’ve not had a reason to look into this yet, but I was wondering which sites you would all recommend so that I can get a good handle on NFP and understand exactly what goes on and what happens, as well as maybe some reasons why it’s better than ABC (like I know it doesn’t put hormones into the body which I’d assume is good, but if I could get a bit more reason WHY that’s good and what hormones ABC puts into the body that’d be great).

I’m almost positive we’ll be asked to choose a preferred method of birth control (Part of the class is to prepare us for the future) and discuss the various options, so I’d like to be able to defend my planned use of NFP for reasons other than just “I’m Catholic”. I’m already known as the hardcore religious guy, (prof mentioned that I don’t beleive in pre-marital sex because of my religious beliefs to sort of demonstrate to others that we do exist ((she was trying to make a case for pre-marital abstinance)) ) so now I’d like to sort of make my classmates realize that our arguments can make sense.
 
Sympto-Thermal: Couple to Couple League www.ccli.org (has several articles/stats on effectiveness)

Creighton Model: www.creightonmodel.com www.fertilitycare.org

Billings Model: www.woomb.org

Northwest Forest: www.nwfs.org (this site has a list of links to articles)

Also, I suggest you get a copy of Toni Weschler’s book Taking Charge Of Your Fertility. It is a secular book, and it does a GREAT job of explaining the biology and she’s a granola type so it’s all about being good for your body.

Here are a couple of other sites:

sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070221065200.htm

nfpsite.aldred.org/effect.html

medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=63567
 
A great resource on the science behind the sympto-thermal method is Taking Charge of your Fertility…
It doesn’t focus on the church’s teachings for WHY we use NFP, but it’s very imformative from a scientific/biological point of view.

HTH! 😃
 
Here’s another fact for you: Did you know that EVERY form of chemical birth control has the power to cause early abortions? Although the pill suppresses ovulation in 95% of cycles, an egg can be fertilized due to the 5% breakthrough ovulation rate. The pill changes the endometrium and makes it hostile to implantation. (The Art of Natural Family Planning, by Kippley) I believe that life begins at conception, and can’t take the chance that my body would reject and flush out a baby. I was taking abc for medical reasons, and this is the single most important reason why I quit birth control.
 
Here’s another fact for you: Did you know that EVERY form of chemical birth control has the power to cause early abortions? Although the pill suppresses ovulation in 95% of cycles, an egg can be fertilized due to the 5% breakthrough ovulation rate. The pill changes the endometrium and makes it hostile to implantation. (The Art of Natural Family Planning, by Kippley) I believe that life begins at conception, and can’t take the chance that my body would reject and flush out a baby. I was taking abc for medical reasons, and this is the single most important reason why I quit birth control.

Good luck to you.
 
I would focus on the hormone issue for non-religious reasons for NFP.

I really have a hard time believing that there is no corilation between the increasing number breast cancer cases and the increasing number of people using ABC.

I have a friend who died at age 39 from breast cancer. Her doctor told her that all the years she was on the pill contributed to her cancer (didn’t say caused it, but it was an estrogen fed cancer, so contributed).

After investigation I learned that the only medically perscribed form of ABC (not counting over the counter items such as condoms) is the copper IUD, which causes abortions of a fertilized egg.

NFP is the most reliable, non-prescription form of birth control. See the below article for some information:

msnbc.msn.com/id/17282285/

Good luck and please let us know how it goes.🙂
 
Opps - I didn’t finish my thought in one of the sentances. Sorry I didn’t proof better:)

The only prescription form of ABC that does not include hormones is the copper IUD.

Again- sorry!
 
Keep in mind, however, the TCOYF cites the use of barrier methods during the fertile period, while NFP advocates abstinece during the fertile period.

I also wanted to provide to you some secular information on NFP, called the Fertility Awareness Method outside the Church. I will tell you now that one of the sites is Planned Parenthood. I chose them because of their high-profile status, and most secular women trust their information.

familydoctor.org/126.xml

fwhc.org/birth-control/fam.htm

americanpregnancy.org/preventingpregnancy/fertilityawarenessNFP.html

plannedparenthood.org/birth-control-pregnancy/birth-control/fertility-awareness-based-methods.htm
 
All that said you could/should also talk about the Catholic position at least briefly in case there are any other Catholics in your class.

Catholig
 
You can get info on the link between the Pill and breast cancer (and abortion & breast cancer) in a couple of places.

www.omsoul.com has great info on NFP, contraception, etc. They can ship items to you very quickly and they are inexpensive. There are some very good book on the medical issues.

Also, Dr. Joel Brind’s website abortionbreastcancer.com/abc.html has info.
 
An idea I had about “effectiveness rates”…that might help the case as well.

You all know how there is the stated statistics about effectiveness of ABC…( they say something like 98% for the pill, etc)

I could be wrong, but when this statistic is stated, is the numbers gathered from just how many pregnancies happen from couples that are on ABC…in general? It doesn’t take into account those couples that aren’t fertile to begin with, as well as the fact that most of the time during the month, they couldn’t have gotten pregnant anyway (because she wasn’t ovulating).

We all know that the ovulation happens only in the time of about a day (??) of the month, and that the conditions of the body make conception a little more plausible surrounding that time. But the rest of the month, one couldn’t get pregnant anyway.

So a much more accurate statistic would actually be to study women on the pill who had intercourse at the time they would have been ovulating ONLY…and how many pregnancies result. The rest of the time they wouldn’t have conceived anyway. It would actually be testing the ABC on effectiveness of actually stopping the ovulation from occurring.

If that were to be the means, I think the “effectiveness rate” of ABC would probably go down to about 10%. (ok, I’m making that up)

I know this is probably medically impossible, and not realistic, but its just a thought. I don’t think that the published effectiveness rate for abc really has anything to do with what people think it does.
 
Thanks everyone! Exactly what I was looking for. I don’t think I’ll be ‘silenced’ or ‘censored’ or anything like that, because the teacher and everyone has so far seemed very respectful of religious beliefs. I do plan on making it clear that I will choose NFP because my beliefs are that artificial birth control is mortally sinful. I’ve been reading Theology of the Body for Beginners so I know WHY it’s sinful too in case someone asks.

Thanks again everyone. I’ll let you all know too how it goes.
 
another great book with information on NFP is
Natural Family Planning Blessed Our Marriage 19 true stories by Fletcher Doyle

I have shared this book with people who didn’t know the serious risks by taking the pill. Each chapter is based upon a different reason why the couple chose NFP ranging from doing what’s right to serious health reasons to avoid a pregnancy.

Good luck.
 
I am a medical student so let me talk about it as I would address it to a patient
  1. With ABC you do not have a true menstrual cycle. Your fertility is treated as an “illness” that needs to be cured. On ABC, the woman no longer has a natural cycle but an artificially constructed cycle. Most of the time (and I stress most not all the time) the woman does not have ovulation and her period is a withdrawal bleed. This is not a natural process.
  2. NFP is a reliable method to plan a family. A research article I found shows that it is just as effective as ABC archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/8/5/391
    It is from the Archives of Family Medicine which is peer reviewed.
  3. On ABC people trust in the system so much that they are “suprised” if they get pregnant. They are not open to life and that is why 60% of abortions are obtained by women on ABC because they are just not prepared for the consequences of sex. People on NFP understand that any sexual encounter could end up creating a life (even if unplanned) and are open to life. Meaning anyone engaging in sex should be prepared to take responsibility for their actions not rely on a pill to save them. This is not undestood by many.
I hope that I am making myself clear. I would also tell them exactly how to pill works. Many physicians do not explain it to their patients.

Good luck
 
Well, today was the class and it didn’t go all that bad but it wasn’t great either. The teacher spoke on Abortion and taught everyone the rhythm method. However, she said that the rhythm method was the only method approved by the Roman Catholic Church and that it was about 70% effective. The first time she said this it caught me off guard but the second time she said that I raised my hand and said “Actually, there are methods that keep records of internal body temperature that are approved by the Catholic Church” but at about the time I got to “temperature” she said “Oh yes! I’ll get to that next time,” so I don’t think anyone heard the part about it being approved.

The really great thing sarcasm is that we have the priveledge of being taught every method of birth control from a representative of Planned Parenthood on Wednesday. The teacher said that we were lucky because we’re the only community college campus that has Planned parenthood come to the campus. We can’t have one in our town because every time they try the community runs them out (👍 I had a BIG smile on my face when she said that, think she might have seen it). Anyway, I debated whether to go to class on Wednesday, but I’ve decided to go because I have to turn in a large assignment and find out what the homework is for next time, but I’m going to sit there and glare the entire time.

At the end of class we always have a small writing assignment, this time was “What questions do you have about birth control for our guest on Wednesday?”

Mine was “Is it true that oral birth control contributes to an increase in chance of getting breast/cervcial cancer?”

Thought I’d let you all know.
 
I had PP come to one of my classes while in college. I was not as well versed in the different methods of contraception and how to refute them (I was rather young and naive back then). The guy that come to my class tried to convince the entire class that Plan B was ok and people are making too big a deal about it. Just know the facts that there is a problem with Plan B and ask if they can tell everyone the exact way that it works.

Just know the truth and correct them if they say something wrong. Ask your teacher why she doesn’t invite an NFP instructor to counter the BS that is told by PP (tell her that this will be the only way to have a balanced and fair view of fertility). We had an NFP instructor come to my med school and we had a large group come to listen. People want to learn and your instructor needs to give a fair view of all methods not just the most popular ones. Also did you read the material I provided above. To fight with PP you have to have your statistics straight. Ask about NFP and if they say it is 70% effective, ask them which method they are discussing: rhythym, Creighton, Sympathothermal, Billings? If they say rhythym than ask them why they are talking about a model that is proven not to work and talk about the newer methods that are 99.6% effective. Print the article and give it to your teacher, and then tell her that you have and NFP instructor that would love to come talk to the class (give them a call, many want to talk to young people).

What would I not give to be in that room with you on Wed, I would love to take PP on again. Now that I know more. You have to use science to fight these people… they will not listen to God.

Good luck and if you need any more info, PM me
 
Rawb said:
The really great thing sarcasm is that we have the priveledge of being taught every method of birth control from a representative of Planned Parenthood on Wednesday.
Click to expand...
Be sure to ask the PP representative about the Fertility Awareness Method. 😛
PP’s website provides info on it:thumbsup: (for at least providing the information)
 
I think I’m going to print out that article you provided, ElizaE, try and understand more of it, and take it with me to class. When the teacher said that rhythm was the only method accepted by the Roman Catholic Church my brain started rushing and I was trying to remember the names of the other methods, but all I could think of was there was one named Billingsley (The name of my high school Bio teacher) and one had something to do with temperature in the name (symptothermal). I’ll make sure I can recall them all next time. I also REALLY wanted to correct her that it was approved of by the CATHOLIC Church because that’s one of my biggest pet peeves. By the time I had realized that the names weren’t that important, just get the ideas out there, the time had passed and she was talking about something completely different. The second time she said it all I could think was “she’s not talking about the scientific and more exact ways of realizing where a woman is on her cycle” and raised my hand and mentioned the temperature, but she intterupted me. It all happened so fast! LoL.

Sure you don’t want to make a quick hop over to California on Wednesday?

Patience and Love I’ll be sure to look more into this off their own website so that I can check what information they do offer on NFP methods. From the name alone though it sounds like rhythm, which of course is outdated now. Why don’t they offer information on a more accurate method?

I doubt that the teacher would let an NFP instructor come to class, because she said today we’re a day behind. I’d really enjoy it, and I can think of one or two classmates who would too maybe, but she would say there wasn’t enough time.

Thanks!
 
Rawb said:
I think I’m going to print out that article you provided, ElizaE, try and understand more of it, and take it with me to class.
Click to expand...
The article I provided was on Creighton. It is the one I use so it’s the one I am most interested in. But all you need is one good NFP method to disarm them. State statistics like
Method effectiveness is 99.6% and Use Effectiveness 96.4% → study done by Hilgers et al, 1999. In Arch of Family medicine they came to the conclusion that Creighton and ABC are comparable. THis will disarm any of their NFP is not effective argument. Trust me they will change the subject because they don’t know anything about it. Don’t be afraid to challenge them… if you know your studies, they will back off.

I was in a Masters of Public Health class in my school. This girl attacked the Church by saying that the poverty problem in Latin America was the Church’s fault because they were agains birth control. I asked her how much she knew about NFP… nothing. She than blabbered about how there is only like a few days that they could safely have sex. I told her that she basically did not have the right information. She started talking about how a man would never honor his wife and wait until she was infertile to have sex. I asked if that was the Church’s problem… does the Church and NFP encourage men to have sex with their wives or women without their permission. Well you get the idea of the conversation. Most people have no idea about NFP and if you present them with facts and statistics they are taken aback that someone knows their stuff.

Personally, I think it is silly that they would have PP without a person present with another belief system to counter them.

Good luck and God bless you. The Holy Spirit will guide you

E
 
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