Rob Colquhoun

 

A tremendous amount of ignorance surrounds the fascinating, liberating and enchanting world of natural family planning (NFP). This form of family planning shows us that fertility is in fact a wondrous gift and a normal and healthy condition that should not be repressed or fiddled with. A woman’s fertility is cyclical and naturally manageable. As a holistic approach, it helps and empowers women to make healthy and ethical reproductive choices about their fertility.

 

The Creighton model is unarguably the best model of natural fertility management. This model relies on biological indicators that are signs of human fertility. The model helps couples to sees precisely on what days it is possible to become pregnant during a woman’s cycle. This knowledge enhances the ability to achieve or avoid pregnancy. This model is 99.5% effective for avoiding pregnancy.[1] This makes it the most effective method of avoiding pregnancy, more than the contraceptive bill and barrier methods. When used to achieve pregnancy, the model is 76% effective in the first cycle and 98% within 6 months. The model is the most effective way to pinpoint ovulation. In this way they come to understand and respect fertility as a wonder and not a disease that needs to be discarded, or a light switch that can be turned on and off at will.

 

The model can help couples to discover alternative ways of intimacy other than genital intercourse. Many couples have mentioned a sort of honeymoon effect after short periods of abstinence. Fertility becomes a shared responsibility between men and women and this facilitates deeper communication between couples. This leads to a deeper level of care and respect between couples and a strengthening of their relationship. There are several markers in the Creighton model that help to show the depth of risk of infertility or miscarriage. Early treatment is the best option for combating infertility. The method teaches couples how to care for their fertility, helping them detect and prevent gynaecological problems.

 

Overall the Creighton model is highly reliable, medically safe, inexpensive and versatile. It helps couples to appreciate and value the mystery of fertility and self knowledge. Many people are coming to realise the significance of protecting and preserving one’s fertility. It has been reported that around one in six couples have infertility problems in the UK. As there are no harmful side effects of NFP from any synthetic hormones, normal fertility is permitted in the way it was designed. A familiarity with the natural rhythms of your body helps to generate self respect and self worth. As the Creighton model requires no medical intervention or monitoring, couples themselves learn how to become their own fertility experts. The model is inexpensive to learn about and certainly substantially cheaper than forms of contraception. As a method of family planning it is not a method of contraception.

 

Condoms can cause irritation or allergic reactions.[2] The inter-uterine device can cause pelvic infection or perforation of the womb. The depo Provera can cause irregular menses, acne, weight gain, headaches and breast pain.[3] The contraceptive pill can cause Breast cysts, weight gain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, irregular bleeding, delay the return of normal fertility, increase risk of breast cancer, liver tumours, elevated blood pressure, heart attacks, phlebitis and stroke.[4] But the Creighton model has no side effects whatsoever. By bother damaging your body and fertility when the natural processes are the best and most effective?

 

It is truly astonishing that this model is not well known about in most households in the country. Even doctors have substantial ignorance about the model. This is most likely due to the lack of financial incentives in promoting the model and the overwhelming profits made by other forms of contraception. The government should do more to promote this model in order to help couples with fertility problems and because it is without doubt the best method of achieving and avoiding pregnancy. With this in mind, who would want to use methods that create further complications?

 

But perhaps most fascinating of all, couples that use natural family planning have a divorce rate of one to three percent.[5] Taking into consideration the average divorce rate in the UK is around 40% at present, this is a staggering statistic. It clearly shows that NFP helps encourage intimacy and stability in relationships. If only cosmopolitan magazine would listen!