You’ll never guess who just published an article in favor of NFP

Would you believe…The New York Times?

Check this out, from writer Rachel Mans McKenny:

I don’t discuss my family planning choices with many people. While the use of fertility awareness is the doctrinal expectation among my fellow Catholics, it isn’t the norm. Those outside the faith might think that practicing fertility awareness automatically aligns me with conservative beliefs, but I’m actually a registered Democrat whose biggest concerns are universal child care, affordable health insurance, reducing maternal mortality rates and improving living wages for all working families. Other people’s bodies aren’t really my business. But for the sake of women who choose alternative family planning methods, as I do, doctors should be more educated about what fertility awareness is and what it isn’t. Being a person of faith doesn’t mean I deny science. Fertility awareness can bring both together.

Over the course of my marriage, my husband and I have used a few different techniques, including the Sympto-Thermal Method (ugh, trying to find that thermometer first thing in the morning), the Billings Method (useless postpartum in the long months before my period reappeared) and finally the Marquette Method, which we use now.  Marquette was a lifesaver postpartum, when hormones are as unpredictable as infants. With perfect use of the method — abstaining during any fertile times — unintended pregnancy rates are 1 in 100. With typical use, Marquette is still more effective than typical use of condoms, where 18 couples out of 100 may find themselves with two lines on a home pregnancy test.

…What I like about using my cycle as a barometer is that both partners take responsibility for the method and consent is key. Is it hard to abstain? Sure, but here’s the thing: Sex being forbidden for a few days a month makes me look forward even more to the times when we can get intimate. Plus, fertility awareness makes us talk about our sex life regularly and openly, which after 10 years in a relationship is a godsend.

Read it all.