This begins the first of seven daily blogs for NFP Awareness Week.
A Numeric Wake-up Call
On May 26, 2010 we received the following message from Dr. Richard Fehring, Professor of Nursing at Marquette University. It should be a wake-up call for everyone concerned about love, marriage, and sexuality.
“The National Center for Health Statistics conducts the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) for the purpose of collecting population-based data on factors related to birth and pregnancy rates in the United States. One of the most important factors related to pregnancy rates is the use of contraceptive methods by women of reproductive age (i.e., 15-44). The latest NSFG was conducted from 2006-2008 and involved in-person interviews with 13,495 men and women. Today — May 26, 2010, the first report on this national survey was released for the purpose of providing results collected on the 7,356 women in the study and their use of contraception (W. D. Mosher and J. Jones. “Use of contraception in the United States: 1982-2008.” Vital and Health Statistics Series 23, Number 29 (2010): 1-77).
Based on this report, the number of women who reported “current use” of modern methods of NFP (i.e., within the month of interview) was only 0.1% or about 64,000 women. This number is down from the 0.2% current use reported in the 2002 NSFG or about 124,000 women, the 0.2% (120,000) in 1995, and the 0.3% in 1982 (162,000).”
I recall reading a report of a 1963 survey in which two-thirds of Catholics still accepted Catholic teaching on birth control. Remember that in 1963 Calendar Rhythm was all that most people had by way of natural family planning, and its users were very likely not to have access to the rules that could make it work for many, many couples.
Since the mid-Sixties there have been significant developments in modern NFP knowledge, and since 1971 there has been a tremendous increase in the number and availability of organized NFP programs.
With all the help being offered, why have the numbers dropped so precipitously?
Tomorrow: The NFP movement 1971-2010: Forty years of near futility.
John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach