Comments on: What's in a Name? "Natural Family Planning" versus "Fertility Awareness Method"

By: Kathleen Quiring

Kathleen Quiring — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:42:36 +0000

Vickie — yes, the transition is the scariest part. A lot of women have crazy cycles when they just come off the Pill, so it’s especially hard to identify your fertile phases. If you’re already unfamiliar with the whole thing, crazy cycles can make you feel a little nuts! However, if you’re not against using other forms of birth control (i.e. condoms) until your cycles have settled down and you are more comfortable with reading your cycles, that might be a viable option.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:58:25 +0000

I was getting confussed by those terms too! Thanks for explaining. At the moment I am on the pill, but have recently been looking into NFP/FAM (I think I lean towards FAM though). I don’t necessarily think contraception is wrong, but from what I’m learning these methods can just be so much better. I’m looking forward to learning more and eventually using FAM, although I am worried about the transition off of the pill.

By: Kathleen Quiring

Kathleen Quiring — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:11:33 +0000

You make so many great points here, “That Married Couple”! Thank you!

TCOYF doesn’t give an exact effectiveness rate for using barrier methods during fertile phases, but the author makes it clear that it’s riskier than just abstaining during those phases.

I definitely see what you mean about FAM letting you retain a contraceptive mentality, which is a big deal. Thanks for mentioning it. I still feel that FAM (with barriers) might be a good “gateway” to NFP, though, so I think it’s still valuable for that reason. Thanks for all your terrific thoughts!

By: Kathleen Quiring

Kathleen Quiring — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:10:46 +0000

Good question, Dayna! We’ve talked about it, of course, but it would probably be good for me to sit him down and ask him to express his views thoroughly. Maybe we can co-write a post answering this question!

By: Kathleen Quiring

Kathleen Quiring — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:10:16 +0000

Thanks for playing devil’s advocate, Sarah. We always need one of those!

I admit I still need to learn and think a lot more about the relative empowerment/disempowerment of the different kinds of birth control. I want to explore it further in another post, actually. I agree that it’s not cut-and-dry. The Pill definitely can make life simpler in some respects.

By: Paige

Paige — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:35:30 +0000

I am engaged to be married in 2 months, and my fiance and I are about to take a NFP class. I’m not really sold on the periodic abstinence thing, though, because the time of periodic abstinence is also the time when a woman has the highest sex drive. That certainly is the case for me; after ovulation my sex drive is pretty low. We intend to use a barrier method during fertile times.

By: MrsNic

MrsNic — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:59:06 +0000

I’m a little late jumping into this conversation, but I just finished my first reading of Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I also have read The Art of Natural Family Planning. While I am Catholic, I am ready to throw the NFP book out the window, solely for the reason that I found it to be high-and-mighty. I also thought it seemed to try to “talk me into” the NFP program, wanting me to blindly follow it because it’s morally right. I found TCOYF much more accepting and instead of persuading, it simply explained. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I like one program better than the other, but I just get turned off when a system is touted at “the way” because of religious or moral reasons.

By: Kathleen Quiring

Kathleen Quiring — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:05:41 +0000

Thanks, Laura! Your expertise is much appreciated. Thanks for all your additional points — all extremely useful!

By: Laura Wershler

Laura Wershler — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:55:13 +0000

Hi Kathleen,

As a sexual and reproductive health advocate who has written extensively about FAM and the differences between NFP and FAM, I can add that you did a very good job of explaining the major differences. I’ve framed NFP, FAM and other methods that teach women to observe, chart and intrepret their menstrual cycle events (eg. BOM- Billings Ovulation Method, Justisse, Creighton, etc) as different “brands” of natural birth control. For a clear and simple explanation of natural birth control methods (a phrase that serves well to refer to all the “brands”) your readers can link to:
http://sexualityandu.ca/adults/contraception-2-16.aspx
I co-wrote this information with Geraldine Matus, founder of the Justisse Method. Women can download the Justisse User’s Guide for free at http://www.justisse.ca. They will also find lots of information about fertility awareness and menstrual cycle charting.

One other note: The term Fertility Awareness also embraces the idea that learning to chart and understand our fertility and our menstrual cycles has more to offer women beyond help to achieve or prevent pregnancy. It provides keen insight into our reproductive and overall health and wellness.

And finally: If you are interested in exploring all things menstrual, be sure to check out re: cycling, the blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research at http://menstruationresearch.org/blog/

By: That Married Couple

That Married Couple — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:03:22 +0000

I think you’ve done a great job here explaining the difference, and it is really helpful to the other NFP/FAM newbies. I also like the emphasis on awareness, though I fall solidly in the NFP camp. I also wanted to second the fact that there are many types of NFP, including mucus-only methods in addition to sympto-thermal. (I would imagine FAM wouldn’t employ those, since barrier methods can interfere with those signs?)

Religious reasons aside, I guess I have two concerns with FAM as opposed to NFP. First, I wonder what it’s effectiveness rate is? (Perhaps the book says? I never got around to reading it.) As you know, barrier methods are less effective overall, let alone during a woman’s fertile time. I would hate for someone to start using FAM, get pregnant because the condom failed (not because the awareness failed), and give it up completely.

My second concern is that FAM seems to allow couples to retain more of a contraceptive mentality. Have you read anything about this yet? It’s really interesting (and this comment is already going to be long enough, so I’ll leave an extended discussion for another day, or shoot me an email about it). I’m not saying that we’re completely free of the contraceptive mentality yet (it’s a hard thing to shake), but I’m certainly trying. Every month that you have to abstain, the idea is to take a good hard look at why you’re abstaining. If you have really good reasons not to have a child, then it’s not so hard to sacrifice for those 8-10 days. If your reason is not as serious, then you are more likely to resent this period, and perhaps use a barrier method.

In an ideal world, spouses would be completely open to life (no contraception, no FAM, no NFP) as the default. NFP would just be used if you have just/grave/serious reasons (an in-group debate rages about how good your reasons need to be, but that’s really between the spouses and God). It’s tough to get this point, though!

That brings me to Suzanne’s comment that “God intended sex to be free in marriage without restrictions or parameters” – of course he did! He loves when we make love with our spouse! We’re the ones who think we need to restrict it by using contraception.

Anyway, I do think it’s important to distinguish which you mean, and am glad you’re doing so. I’m sorry to leave such a long comment – it’s just so interesting! Thanks for bringing this subject up – I really appreciate having to think all this through and reading everyone else’s thoughts on the discussion!