15 Reasons to Use NFP

Okay, so I stole this from my good friend Erin's blog, Humble Handmaid, but I think it's originally from Matthew Warner's blog entitled Fallible Blogma.  I thought it was very interesting, considering how most of the world seems to view our crazy Catholic version of "birth control."

Though NFP (if practiced correctly) is just as effective as the pill, it is NOT "Catholic birth control."  It's a natural way to achieve or delay a pregnancy (for serious reasons) through ecological breastfeeding and being aware of a wife's fertility.  Blake and I haven't had to practice any NFP for quite a while (we've been pregnant for most of our marriage, lol), but it's important to understand not only how to practice it, but why we practice it.  Couples practicing NFP are not using any artificial means of preventing conception or implantation, and are therefore open to God's will during the marital act.  A couple must prayerfully discern each month if they have serious reasons to postpone a pregnancy, and if they do, then they should abstain from sex during the fertile phase of the wife's cycle.  The couple learns to sacrifice their short-term pleasure for the long-term good of the family.  And if the couple finds that there is no serious reason to postpone pregnancy, they can even use NFP to achieve a pregnancy!


Anyway, here are 15 reasons to use NFP from Fallible Blogma:

Awhile ago there was a study done on couples who use NFP (Natural Family Planning). NFP is a way of achieving and/or avoiding pregnancy that is extremely effective while also being consistent with the way the human body and the sexual act was designed (unlike contraception).

The study lists a number of things that correlate with users of NFP. I will leave you to decide which ones are more direct effects from using NFP and which ones are more contributory causes of using it. In the end, they are all wrapped up together.

Couples who use NFP:

• Have a dramatically low (0.2%) divorce rate.
• Experience happier marriages.
• Are happier and more satisfied in their everyday lives.
• Have considerably more marital relations.
• Share a deeper intimacy with spouse than those who contracept.
• Realize a deeper level of communication with spouse.
• Are appreciably more religious and attend church more often.
• Incorporate prayer more in their daily lives.
• Rely strongly on the teachings of the Church, the Bible and Almighty God.
• Have strong traditional, social, and moral views.
• Preserve the family unit more responsibly than the other groups.
• Are unlikely to have ever had an abortion.
• Are unlikely to have ever cohabitated.
• Are unlikely to both work full time.
• Are unlikely to be supportive of and to engage in sex outside of marriage.

So users of NFP have better, stronger, more stable marriages. They have more sex. They lead happier more satisfying lives. They provide their kids with the mother and father they deserve. They don’t kill babies. And there are absolutely no harmful side-effects.

Use NFP. Save your family. Save the world?