Training in Natural Family Planning, by which a woman can tell when she in a fertile or infertile period with a high accuracy, is now being provided by two practitioners in Burlington. The method assists couples who are having difficulty conceiving or who wish to postpone conception. Experience has also shown that couples who use this method hardly ever divorce and enjoy happier marriages than the general population.

The training is being provided by Sylvia Heald and Pilar Gordillo, who are associated with the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family Centre. They teach the Creighton Model FertilityCare system. To contact them or to register for introductory sessions, call the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family Centre at 416-465-2868 or email info@fertilitycare.ca.

Understanding fertility cycles

The Creighton Model is built on 30 years of research.

• It enables a woman to understand her menstrual and fertility cycles by examining the mucus secreted by her cervix.
• This secretion varies according to her ovulation and estrogen cycle so that it inhibits passage of sperm during the infertile phase and promotes passage during the fertile phase.
• A couple is taught to distinguish the changes in the mucus and to record them in charts that take into account the life of the sperm and allow them to account for variations in her cycle.
• Using this information, they can choose when to have intercourse to help them achieve or delay conception.

Happy marriages

It is the element of choice that contributes to happy marriages since it requires communication and cooperation between husband and wife.

The method can also help the woman be attentive to her health and can give her doctor information about her cycles so that the physician can provide better care.

As a means of avoiding pregnancy, its effectiveness has been proven by a series of separate studies of 1,876 couples, reports the FertilityCare Centers of America, a group of affiliated centres providing instruction in the system and the NaProTECHNOLOGY on which it is based:

• The total effectiveness of the Creighton Model FertilityCare system at avoiding pregnancy was on average 99.5 per cent.

By comparison, a chart published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows the effectivess in typical use of other methods:

• Chemical contraceptives such as the pill have an effectiveness of 97 to 99.9 per cent
• Chemical contraceptives have side effects and risks absent with Natural Family Planning.
• Barrier methods such as condoms have effectiveness rates of 68 to 85 per cent.