Getting familiar with another natural birth control method

For many couples, having a child is a source of

joy brought about by careful thought and conscious

choice. It is also a tough decision to make most

especially for women who have other things in mind

such as their career or further studies. For

millions of women and their partners who opt not

to get pregnant, contraception is always a viable

option.

Christians have always condemned contraceptive

sex. Both forms mentioned in the Bible, “coitus

interruptus” and sterilization, are condemned

without exception. The early Fathers recognized

that the purpose of sexual intercourse in natural

law is procreation, hence contraceptive sex, which

deliberately blocks that purpose, is a violation

of natural law. However, in this day and age,

things are changing and contraception can not be

disregarded.

Birth control or contraception is a course of

therapy involving one or more actions, devices, or

medications that prevents pregnancy. In other

words, the mechanisms responsible for lessening

the possibility of the fertilization of an ovum by

a spermatozoon can be precisely referred to as

contraception.

Stepping into the past, the oldest methods of

contraception included “coitus interruptus,”

certain barrier methods, and herbal methods.

Historic records say that Egyptian women used a

pessary made of various acidic substances and

lubricated with honey or oil, which was good at

killing sperm. In Asia, women took to oiled paper

as a cervical cap while the Europeans had

supposedly used bee wax.

It was not before the seventeenth century that the

condom came into being. The earliest forms of

condoms were actually made from animal intestine.

It was only with the advent of modern latex

condoms, that they became all the very effective

and accepted. It came to prominence as an

effective means of contraception and not to

mention giving hopes avoiding syphilis whatsoever.

There are other types of contraception, too many

to choose from, but if couples want to go for a

natural birth control method, Fertility Awareness

Method (FAM) can be a solution. Any method of

identifying the fertile and infertile time in the

menstrual cycle by self observations is a kind of

fertility awareness method. The term Fertility

Awareness Method, or FAM, however, has come to be

associated with the “three over six” way of

identifying ovulation and the infertile or fertile

time. This method, similarly described by both the

World Health Organization and Professor John

Marshall in the 1960s and geared largely for

couples wishing to avoid pregnancy, identifies

ovulation after three temperatures above the

previous six temperatures have been observed and

cervical fluid has dried up. A coverline is then

drawn slightly above the highest of the six

temperatures before the temperature rise.

FAM also refers to a natural birth control method

outside of a religious framework that supports the

use of barrier methods (such as condom, diaphragm,

and spermicide), emergency contraception, and

abortion. It allows a woman to identify days in

her menstrual cycle on which they are likely to be

fertile. Many women use this information to help

them get pregnant, but it can also be used to help

them avoid pregnancy.

FAM is often confused with the ineffective rhythm

method, which uses mathematical calculations based

on past cycle lengths to predict infertile days

for the present cycle. FAM relies only on daily

observation of fertility changes in the present

and is deemed more effective. It eliminates the

problems of hormones affecting the milk in

breastfeeding women and avoids the hassle of

staining which can occur with pills and IUDs.

FAM is a natural birth control method that is safe

and highly effective when used correctly and

consistently.