Natural Family Planning Vs. Contraception


This four part series explains some of the problems with the birth control pill and contraception in general and outlines the case for Natural Family Planning, a viable and very effective and flexible alternative to spacing children in the family and even helping couples to concieve children.


Part 1: Five Reasons to Stop Taking the Pill

Taken from the “Ascension Presents” Youtube Channel:

Jackie lists five reasons to stop taking the pill:

1. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the pill as a Group 1 Carcinogen, along with asbestos, smoking, and mustard gas.
2. It’s been cited by studies to cause weight gain, depression, and blood clots, and it increases the risk of breast, liver, and cervical cancer.
3. It makes you more attracted to men who are genetically similar to you.
4. It releases estrogen into natural water sources.
5. It can act as an abortifacient, not just as a contraceptive.


Part 2: “Why We Don’t Use Contraception in Our Marriage”

Taken from the “Ascension Presents” Youtube Channel:

Jackie and Bobby give their reasons for not using contraception in their marriage. While sharing the Church’s beautiful teaching on sex and marriage, they explain why sex is more than recreational. The biological and theological purpose of sex is to bear children.

Whenever a husband and wife give themselves to one another freely, totally, faithfully, and fruitfully, they are saying “I do” just as they did on their wedding day.

Further Resources:

Read more about Pope Paul VI’s prophetic predictions in Humanae Vitae at media.ascensionpress.com/2018/07/23/hearkening-to-humanae-vitae-a-5-part-series/

“These two meanings or values of marriage (the unitive and procreative) cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family. The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of fidelity and fecundity” (CCC 2363).


Part 3: “Why We Love Natural Family Planning”

Taken from the “Ascension Presents” Youtube Channel:

Following up on their first two videos in this series, which cover the pill and contraception, Jackie and Bobby discuss the benefits and the beauty of natural family planning (NFP). Far from being just a more difficult form of contraception, NFP works in accordance with God’s design for life. While admitting some of the struggles that come with practicing NFP, Jackie and Bobby also talk about the joy and authentic freedom it has brought to their marriage.

Here’s what the Catechism has to say about NFP, or “periodic continence”:

“Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. (CCC 2370)


Part 4: “Why We Hate Natural Family Planning”

Taken from the “Ascension Presents” Youtube Channel:

Bobby hates natural family planning because it requires self-mastery and dying to self. While it sounds great in the idealistic sense, living it out is a whole different story.

Being married doesn’t mean you’re entitled to sex with your spouse. If sex is the beautiful, natural expression of love we say it is, natural family planning is a form of training in that genuine love. Fertility is a great and powerful gift, but with great power comes great responsibility. While Bobby finds the practice of NFP excruciatingly difficult in the day to day, he notices that he is growing in patience, generosity, and selflessness as he bears this cross. He also notices how his relationship with Jackie flourishes as a result.

“When a child is given to his parents, a crown is made for that child in Heaven, and woe to the parents who raise a child without consciousness of that eternal crown!”― Fulton J. Sheen, Life Is Worth Living