Natural Family Planning

Natural Family Planning (NFP) empowers couples to understand their fertility so that they can achieve or avoid pregnancy.  NFP is completely natural, and therefore maintains the dignity of the person.  Mutual respect and admiration develop between a couple who use NFP due to loving cooperation and shared responsibility.  Medical advancements have resulted in an amazing 99.8% effectiveness rate. 
NFP is easy to learn.  We teach the sympto-thermal method which uses temperature and symptom cross-check to determine the fertile time. 
The class format consists of 4 classes, two hours each, usually one month apart, and individual counseling.  The class fee is $75.  Free refresher courses are offered for previous Couple to Couple League students. 
NFP can be learned at any stage of a woman's reproductive life, breastfeeding,
pre-menopause, low fertility, and following the use of any contraceptive. 

Advantages

• Medically safe
  
• Highly reliable--99.8%
  
• Morally acceptable
  
• Easy to Learn
  
• Inexpensive
  
• Helpful for those desiring pregnancy
  
• Shared responsibility
  
• Natural
  

What is the difference between NFP and artificial contraception?

When we turn off our fertility, we treat it as a burden rather than a gift.  Fertility is a gift to be celebrated, with God in the center.  As the creator of heaven and earth, God is the author of life.  When we shut Him out, our hearts become more closed to God's will in our lives and selfish desires begin to take precedence.
Remaining open to life honors God and his great gift and we are more open to receiving the great blessings of children so NFP families are living examples of the Culture of Life.  Additionally, The Pill, and numerous other forms of artificial contraception are abortifacient, ie., they may cause an early abortion by not allowing the baby to implant in the uterus. 

Biblical References

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward."
Gen 1:28 …"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."
Gen 38:8-10 Onan was put to death for spilling the seed of life.  The punishment for the crime of not perpetuating a brother's family line was never death.
Deut 23:1 "He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member cut off, shall not enter the assembly of the Lord."
Gal 5:20 "The sins of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, and sorcery" (translated pharmakeia, an old method of poisoning the uterus)
1 Cor 7:5  "Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time to be free for prayer."

CCL Certified Instructors

Call for questions or to register for class.
Joe and Michelle Shahid
theshahids@bellsouth.net
881-2451

Links

Effectiveness of Natural Family Planning