Family Planning Services
Our centers honor the natural gift of fertility and the crucial role of motherhood in society. We uphold that fertility is a healthy biological process that women can understand and embrace.
Each of our centers empowers women with fertility care services through in-person or online natural family planning classes, and provides fertility classes and information. Select affiliates provide fertility counseling as well.
Learn Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs)
Women can take control of their own fertility when they’re empowered and guided by trained Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABM) educators. And any woman can use FABMs effectively — even if she has irregular cycles!
We believe women have the right and ability to make an informed choice about whether to achieve or avoid pregnancy — without harmful contraceptives. FABMs offer many other great benefits as well, including diagnosing and managing health concerns like PMS, painful periods, irregular cycles, and infertility.
Once familiar with the practice, it takes only a few minutes a day. Observing the signs of her body, a woman can identify when she is fertile (in the few days surrounding ovulation, after which she is infertile). Our centers teach the following methods:
The Cervical Mucus Methods — These methods include the careful observation and charting of the absence or presence of a woman’s cervical mucus on a day-to-day basis.
- Creighton Model
- Billings Ovulation Method
- Family of America’s Foundation Method
Sympto-Thermal Methods — These methods include the careful observation and charting of several fertility signs on a daily basis, including cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and the optional cervix sign.
- SymptoPro Fertility Education
- Couple-to-Couple League
Sympto-Hormonal Methods — These methods include the careful observation and charting of the absence and presence of cervical mucus while using an electronic fertility monitor to measure reproductive hormones on a daily basis.
- Marquette Model
Embrace your healthy, natural processes by learning FABMs in-person at a Guiding Star Center. If there’s not a Guiding Star affiliate near you (yet), click below to learn online.