What is NFP?
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is the general title for the scientific, natural, and moral methods of family planning that can help married couples achieve or avoid pregnancies.
NFP is a system of understanding a couple’s combined fertility through observation of naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy. Since methods of NFP respect the love-giving (unitive) and life-giving (procreative) nature of the conjugal act, they support God’s design for married love! This Catholic Church teaching was promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968.
Ultimately, NFP is pairing awareness and appreciation of fertility with prayer, communication, and discernment.
How Does It Work?
Barring any medical problems, men are always fertile. On the other hand, women alternate between times of fertility and infertility. NFP is based on detecting the variation of hormones naturally occurring during the woman’s menstrual cycle causing observable changes in her body. With proper instruction and cooperation with the cycle, couples can effectively achieve or avoid pregnancy.
There are four methods of NFP available in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Click here to learn more about each method.
Meet a new generation of medical professionals who are embracing true women’s health through the new scientific approach to Natural Family Planning.
Featuring: Drs. Alexis Simon, Brooke Jemelka, Gavin Puthoff, Kathleen Sander,
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