NFP question

[DVIN_CKS]

Just curious to know if there is anyone out there who, for whatever reason isn’t able to use the NFP method to avoid conception? Do you and your spouse practice 100% abstinence? I’m curious because the Church takes such a firm stand on its teaching that only NFP or other “natural” methods of birth control are allowed. What do couples do when these natural methods are not suitable to there situation (i.e. women who claim that their cycles/signs are very irregular making tracking almost impossible). Let’s assume for the sake of argument here that the couple have already been educated in NFP and find that it still isn’t a viable option for birth control. Is their only option at this point to practice total abstinence? I believe the answer would be yes. Am I right?

Anyone out there in a marriage where total abstinence is being practiced?

 

[1ke]

DVIN CKS:

Just curious to know if there is anyone out there who, for whatever reason isn’t able to use the NFP method to avoid conception? Do you and your spouse practice 100% abstinence? I’m curious because the Church takes such a firm stand on its teaching that only NFP or other “natural” methods of birth control are allowed. What do couples do when these natural methods are not suitable to there situation (i.e. women who claim that their cycles/signs are very irregular making tracking almost impossible). Let’s assume for the sake of argument here that the couple have already been educated in NFP and find that it still isn’t a viable option for birth control. Is their only option at this point to practice total abstinence? I believe the answer would be yes. Am I right?

Anyone out there in a marriage where total abstinence is being practiced?

Yes, complete abstinence would be the alternative to periodic abstinence that is the basis of NFP. NFP allows one to observe the signs of fertility and abstain only during fertile days. If for some reason a person did not feel confident in their ability to interpret their signs of fertility, then they would abstain completely until such time as they could interpret their signs or no longer felt the need to postpone pregnancy.

Irregular cycles are NOT an impediment to using NFP, that is an excuse used by those who do not want to use the method. With NFP you observe EACH DAY, so the total cycle has no bearing on the individual observations. The real problem is that people don’t necessarily want to abstain on days they would have to abstain-- therefore it is “too hard” or “doesn’t work”. That’s nonsense. It absolutely does work.

 

[BibleReader]

My wife and I have used the very natural Billings Mucus Method for 22 years of marriage. She was a little bit irregular. It worked fine. Then she got extremely irregular. It worked fine.

 

[kmktexas]

DVIN CKS:

Just curious to know if there is anyone out there who, for whatever reason isn’t able to use the NFP method to avoid conception? Do you and your spouse practice 100% abstinence? I’m curious because the Church takes such a firm stand on its teaching that only NFP or other “natural” methods of birth control are allowed. What do couples do when these natural methods are not suitable to there situation (i.e. women who claim that their cycles/signs are very irregular making tracking almost impossible). Let’s assume for the sake of argument here that the couple have already been educated in NFP and find that it still isn’t a viable option for birth control. Is their only option at this point to practice total abstinence? I believe the answer would be yes. Am I right?

Anyone out there in a marriage where total abstinence is being practiced?

I haven’t ever heard of anyone where the tracking of cycles is impossible. For some women, the irregularity of cycles combined with very serious reasons for avoiding pregnancy, might make the “safe” days fewer than the couple finds acceptable. Some lifestyle changes are also called for in order to get reliable readings, such as clothing, care with OTC medications etc. If a woman really was unable to identify any safe days in her cycle and had serious reasons, then yes, the couple would need to discern if a longer period of abstinence was called for. Keep in mind that women are not fertile forever, so even “total” abstinence, doens’t mean perpetual. The issues that hinder charting could be resolved as well.

There are many times during a marriage where abstinence for varying periods of time may be called for. Using your example “for the sake of argument”, this could be one of them.

I think we need a moderator’s “call” on your last question.