The Scientific Way to Plan Your Family

Fertility Awareness
for Marital Harmony and Ecological Health

Fertility awareness is a system of gathering, recording, and interpreting facts about what is happening in a woman's body during her fertility cycle. As a woman becomes naturally fertile and then infertile in each cycle, certain body signs occur. By recognizing these signs, th eproperly informaed couple can plan, delay, or avoid a pregnancy accordingly. Instruction in Natural Family Planning (NFP) options in the Trenton Diocese include:

Natural Family Planning is—

• Healthy: It has no harmful side effects, and doesn't endanger future fertility. There are no drugs, devices, or chemicals to alter the reproductive system and cause other dangerous and unwanted side effects. It's great for overall health awareness, too. NFP also respects life—it doesn't do anything to destroy life once it has begun.
• Easy and Practical to learn and use. NFP requires an initial time of learning. It then takes just a few minutes a day to observe and chart the signs of fertility and interpret those sign. NFP is based on scientific priciples and is not calendar rythm. It does not require regular cycles. NFP providers now offer online or phone app charting devices.
• Effective: NFP is 99% effective when properly understood and practiced. A 2007 study showed a 98.6% method-effectiveness for the sympto-thermal method of NFP.
• Helpful to couples desiring a pregnancy: With NFP, couples will become aware of the most fertile days in the cycle and will learn ways to optimize their mutual fertility.
• Marriage Building: The couple shares the responsibility for family planning. Couples discover that by accepting their fertility and living in harmony with it, they are rewarded with deep intimacy and peace of mind. Surveys show that the divorce rate among NFP-using couples is less than 5%.
• Morally Acceptable: NFP is approved by major religions. Natural Family Planning is consistent with 2000 years of Catholic Church teaching and of other Christian churches up until 1930.
• Ecological: No artificial hormone residuals are discharged into the environment, and no manufacturing or disposal of packaging is required. NFP is the "greener" way of planning a family!
• Inexpensive: The one-time fee includes course materials, introductory, and follow-up sessions. Whether it's an online course, a series of classes, or individual instruction, the entire investment in learning an FSP method is less than $150, and the benefits last a lifetime.

To learn about online classes, charting apps, home study courses, group classes, or individual instruction, call Peg Hensler, Trenton Diocesan NFP Coordinator, at 403-7156, or send email to [email protected].

For other Natural Family Planning courses in the Philadelphia region or in New Jersey, see www.pnfpn.org or www.njnfp.org.