A few weeks ago we asked over on ourFacebook page  and our friend site Living the Sacrament for you to share reasons why you choose to use natural methods of family planning versus the widely championed artificial birth control being mandated in the controversial Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate.  We got some wonderfully insightful responses and wanted to share them here.  If you want to add your own reasons, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
We also want to point out the WomenSpeakforThemselves.com campaign which is collecting signatures of women all across this country that oppose the HHS Mandate. Please share and sign the letter to make our voices heard in this debate.
 
 
I like having the knowledge and control of my body to make the decision to abstain/avoid pregnancy one month- if our hearts change the next month about pregnancy, we don’t have to wait for side effects to wear off and fertility to return, as if it were a disease to begin with. That’s one of MANY reasons we choose NFP! – Jaci
 
We use Natural Family Planning and monitor my changing fertility because we know it is better for my body and our relationship. The amount of communication needed and the basic level of respect he must have for my body prove we are together for more than the great sex. We’re in this together as a team, which is how I think sex is meant to be. It is not a solitary act and should not be dealt with in that way. I am grateful to have more than a sexual partner, but a partner outside the bedroom as well. I love the ability to recognize and appreciate my healthy body doing what it was naturally made to do.  – L
 
 Because it’s good for my marriage, and there are no side effects. I used hormonal BC until I knew better and the doctors kept switching it because of all the side-effects, finally they said you either deal with the side effects or take your chances. I hardly call NFP taking my chances. It makes me feel better, allows me to know what’s going on in my body, and it opens up communication between my husband and I. There are so many more great reasons. But that’s why we started – Patricia
 I love NFP because it does keep communication open between us.  I feel more respected by dh & more respectful of him. I feel like it creates a stronger bond between us. – M 
I can monitor my body, what is going on with it, if there is something “going on”, how life/emotions/medications affect my body. I can tell my doctor more about my body/cycle than he can tell me. I don’t have to play guessing games about what phase of my cycle I am in. No drug interactions. No allergies to artificial birth control, or having to switch to make me feel “normal”. I love my body! It’s amazing how it works. – Celeste 
To me healthcare should prevent, detect, or treat disease. Artificial birth control does none of those things. And in fact, contrary to the purpose of healthcare, can CAUSE disease. The most deadly form of breast cancer? No thanks. It can also mask other natural indicators of infertility thus making detection and actual treatment of those conditions impossible. In effect it is the *opposite* of healthcare and is a shameful indicator of the priorities of popular culture. – Dwija
I love NFP because it gets my husband and I to talk about us and our family goals most days. Definitely helps with our communication – K
I am more in tune to my body; it opens communication between me and my husband. It inspires more respect between us as spouses and respect for God as having all the control and it opens respect for the miracle of life. I LOVE neither paying nor placing my “trust” anyone/company, to be ‘able’ love free and naturally. I feel natural, healthy, and clean/”pure”. – Jacque
 Being able to become pregnant is a sign of health. I do not want to poison or maim myself. As a woman my fertility is part of me, not something wrong with me. And I like babies. – Jessica
 
I love NFP because it indicates health or lack thereof, of SOOO many different aspects of my body.  Yes fertility is the obvious one, but so many other issues can be “red flagged” by proper charting and symptom recording.  Definitely empowering! – Kristin
 IMO, NFP is *feminist* family planning. It is not feminist IMO to compromise your own health for the sake of a man’s pleasure. It is not feminist to outsource family planning to a Pharmaceutical company. If NFP didn’t exist, we would use condoms consistently & correctly. In women with non-monogamous relationships, Pharmaceutical contraception actively puts them @ risk for STDs. I had a natural birth, I choose natural family planning. It is a great use of my science degree. As an environmentalist, I enjoy keeping synthetic hormones out the water supply too. – Ellen
 I love NFP because, not only does it open the communication about our family plans, it opens communication for other things.  One thing leads to another and before you know it we are talking about other important things. It also keeps me tuned in to my body. I figured out I had a bladder infection ridiculously early because of my observations for NFP. I also have identified more mittelschmerz cramps because I know what is where in my body and what point in my cycle they do what they do. Rarely do I have any kind of a pain that I don’t know what or why it is. And I appreciate my husband’s self control. It amazes me and makes me fall more in love with him every time I think about it. – J
 No more cancer risk. No more chemicals. No more possibility of aborting my own child. More natural, more in touch with my body, more open to children, more faith, more God. – Sonja
 I love NFP because it leaves me 100% free of the health risks associated with contraceptive hormones.  I really do love that freedom!  Contraceptive hormones (Pill, patch, implant, Nuvaring, Mirena, Depo, etc) all seem like convenient solutions, but they come with price tags.  Even if I wasn’t Catholic, I’d probably still be a nurse and I would not be comfortable with those risks at all!  Things like blood clots, heart attack, stroke, cancer, depression, weight gain.  And most of all, contraceptive hormones can all work as abortifacients.  As much as I have needed to avoid pregnancy at times, I have never been OK with the idea of using a drug that could harm a new life inside me.   It would feel like I was putting my sex life ahead of human life.  Lovemaking is a gift from God and an important part of marriage, but I know deep down that putting it ahead of human life is not the right way to use that gift in marriage.  So, I love that NFP allows me to avoid pregnancy effectively without having to worry about ANY of those things.  I appreciate what NFP has shown me about my reproductive health.  My charting revealed that I have poly cystic ovarian disease (PCOD).  I would not have known that or been treated for it if I wasn’t doing NFP.   My charting has also allowed me to monitor the treatments I’ve received for PCOD, to see if it’s improving things or not.  I love how NFP forces us to have conversations that could have easily stayed dormant if we were using BC.   NFP doesn’t cause problems in our marriage, but it sure shines a spotlight on problems that are already there.   That can be painful, but it’s good for us.  Without the spotlight, we could ignore those problems and then they would only grow in secret…slowly.   NFP requires us to face them head on.  To face the way we treat each other, the way we communicate, the way we co-operate or don’t co-operate with each other.  NFP has taught us some difficult lessons and has challenged us as a couple.  I would not trade those hard moments with NFP for anything.    The growth in our marriage and our hearts has been worth it.    – S
 If you are interested in learning more about the different methods of natural fertility care and Natural Family Planning, watch for our next post sharing with you how you can go about finding a doctor or practitioner trained in the various methods.

Because we believe women deserve access to education about themselves, not more free birth control.