Nature’s way

by Editor · May 8, 2002

Mention the idea of Natural Family Plann-ing (NFP) to acquaintances of a more secular worldview, and one is likely to be met with a derisive retort, possibly involving a hackneyed reference to the (obsolete and unlamented) rhythm method.

Until recently, South Africa’s department of health evidently adopted a correspondingly hostile view of NFP. Why else would health officials supposedly professionals well versed in the various disciplines of medical research have relegated NFP alongside unreliable and outdated methods (such as coitus interruptus) in the original draft for the health department’s “National Contracept-ion Policy Guidelines” document?

It is therefore encouraging that the final version of the document includes a chapter addressing the NFP option positively, in no small measure thanks to the persuasive intervention of the Fertility Mastery Association of South Africa (Fermasa), a body linked to the Catholic bishops’ conference.

It is a fact that the natural family planning methods advocated by Fermasa, the Billings method and the Sympto-thermal method, record a superior success rate, at 96%, to most other preventative measures without the risk of physical or conscientious side-effects.

Indeed, proponents of NFP point out that fertility is the only medical field in which doctors propose pharmaceutical means (or surgery, in the case of sterilisation) to treat a healthy condition.

Significantly, the government has also acknowledged that women who practise NFP reduce the risks of contracting HIV.

Fermasa has proposed that medical aid societies sponsor the training of qualified NFP teachers, with Fermasa as controller of standards. This is a sound solution, which promises to be of benefit to all interested parties.

While it is too early to speak of NFP as having entered the mainstream of family planning, it has now broken out of the medical ghetto of misperceptions.

In a society where interest in homeopathy is spreading, the Billings and Sympto-thermal methods provide a natural and viable alternative to artificial means of family planning for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.