I was speaking to a caller to CANFP recently, who told me when asked by her physician what method of contraception she used, she answered NFP, following with the explanation, because I am Catholic.
Now, I understand what she meant by that, which I think was, because I am Catholic, I do not use contraception, I use NFP.
But there are two common misperceptions that are perpetuated in such exchanges: 1) That NFP is a contraceptive method and 2) that NFP is just Catholic birth control.
While one may argue that is semantics, I contend that classifying NFP as a contraceptive or as a Catholic birth control method is to misunderstand the fundamental difference between NFP and contraception, and to diminish the universal appeal of the truth of NFP.
With contraception the man or woman are altered through the use of devices, or chemical or surgical means, so as to render all acts incapable of producing children, controlling fertility by changing the fundamental nature of the marital act. With NFP, nothing is done to alter either participant, or the act—all retain their nature/integrity as God designed. The only control with NFP is self control.
As to the second point, there really is nothing about NFP that restricts its use to Catholics. Nor is it a method of birth control, Catholic or otherwise, for the previously stated reason.
NFP is not uniquely Catholic, any more than the physiology of the menstrual cycle is uniquely Catholic. An ultrasound of the uterus will not distinguish if a woman is Catholic, Evangelical, LDS, Hindu, or Atheist. The cervical fluid produced when estrogen rises, signaling to the informed woman she is fertile and approaching ovulation, is universal to all women, not just something Catholic women experience. If the seminal fluid of a man is viewed under a microscope, the sperm of the Catholic men do not have a little rosary around their little heads.
NFP does NOT stand for Not For Protestants.
NFP, in fact, is an umbrella term for various methodologies which have been developed to observe the changes in the woman’s body to identify the days of fertility in the cycle. The motive for choosing to use one of these methods is varied. Some choose NFP to avoid the harmful effects of contraception. Some, with no religious convictions, just find it makes more sense to work with nature, rather than against it. Some are seeking to benefit from the high effectiveness of the methods, and associated medical applications, to overcome infertility or to avoid a miscarriage. And yes, some come because respecting God’s design for bringing new life into the world is foundational to their faith convictions–and some of those are Catholic.
I taught NFP in a Catholic hospital for almost twenty years, and non-Catholic clients in that program outnumbered the Catholic ones.
While users of NFP cross all religious and cultural divides, it is true that most NFP programs are promoted and offered by Catholics, or Catholic institutions. After all the Catholic Church is the only denomination which still clearly teaches that contraception is inconsistent with God’s plan for marriage, so it is the Catholic Church who leads the way in funding and promoting and educating on the morally acceptable methods of NFP.
Every day, the Catholic Church also feeds, shelters, clothes, and educates more people in the world then any other organization. And the world is better for it. No one dismisses these gifts as Catholic food, or Catholic clothes.
We invite all to join our California NFP community: CANFP. Let us be drawn together, whatever our faith perspective, by NFP: the universal language of love and life