Plan your family naturally while embracing your divine design Print E-mail
By Dr. April Lind For The Catholic Spirit   
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
As a primary care doctor I have the honor and privilege of helping people in times of need. While most often it is a medical need, sometimes it’s more intimate than this: a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, someone to process a new challenge with. As a ceaseless student of the human condition, I am struck by a pattern of resilience in some of my patients. Why can some people handle more than what seems humanly possible with bravery and joy, and others crumble under the load? Love.

The well-known passage in Corinthians 13 —  “love is patient and kind” — really merits reflection on. The love that I am privileged to witness in many of the families I serve has helped me in my journey to be a better doctor and a better Christian, and in return I try to share these powerful observations of love. The witness of love of life between married couples using natural family planning and the respect developed in their families helped me explore this reality more.

Biology requires every family to begin with a mother and father. As men and women created in the image and likeness of God, we are given the gift and the responsibility to share in the creative power of God. The marital embrace was given not only to unite a couple, but also to share in the procreative power of God. As the two become one, spouses continually grow together by upholding their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving.

‘Generous to the service of life’

Natural family planning respects the bodies of the spouses, encourages tenderness between them, and favors the education of an authentic freedom to live and love as God created us (CCC 2370). A child is a gift, conceived in the personal union and love of parents committed to each other for life. Families that utilize NFP have integrated their fertility with adequate appreciation of their bodies and are generous to the service of life.

Natural family planning is exactly this — a way to plan your family naturally without the aide of hormones or barrier devices. There are many highly effective methods of NFP, which are based on the basic biology of a women’s reproductive system. NFP empowers couples to better understand the natural rhythms of a woman’s body to identify fertile and infertile times of the menstrual cycle. With this knowledge couples can effectively plan or delay the gift of children, and doctors can diagnose and treat gynecological or infertility issues.

Many women across the globe regulate the number of children they have very effectively using NFP. After 30 years of study this is no longer your grandmother’s “rhythm method.” There is a wealth of scientific evidence showing these systems to be 95 percent effective when used correctly, which is equivalent to many of the hormonal choices of birth control that women are often encouraged to take.

Holistic benefits

Pope John Paul II remarked that man is continually expanding his control over nature through scientific and technical progress. We as a society have been convinced that only medicine can provide effective control over our fertility. Just like many doctors in medical school, I was taught the basic biologic principles of human reproduction; however these basis principals were not practically transferable to assisting my patients to understand and use NFP. This unfortunately often resulted in patients being discouraged with the use of NFP as an effective means of helping couples with their reproductive choices.

It was not until seeing NFP practiced in my patients that I come to understand all the beauty and dignity it offers to a couple and a family. Through further research, study and reflection I have come to see and articulate the immense benefits of NFP— medically, psychologically, socially and spiritually.

Increased communication and a less than 4 percent divorce rate are just some of the powerful benefits that NFP users enjoy. Contraception denies the truth of the sexual act as the proper expression of total mutual self-giving love and is opposed to the virtue of chastity in marriage. NFP encourages us all to view our sexuality as a part of our total self, rather than primarily focused on our anatomy.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, ‘Let us bring peace into the world, by love and compassion, by respecting life, the most beautiful gift of God. Let us love each person- the unborn, the young, the old, the sick and the poor — with the same love with which God loves each one of us, a tender and personal love.” I encourage you to seek out more information about NFP and discover the many graces it will provide you.