Birth Control the Way We Were Designed to Use
The obstetrician thought it odd. He saw women fight tooth and nail for the right to ingest hormone-free milk and beef, then turn around and thoughtlessly pop a pill with unnatural hormones intended to alter the sexual cycle in their own bodies. Artificial contraception causes weight gain, mood swings, tumors, and a whole host of medical conditions, yet it’s touted as health care. It’s promoted as good for civilization but is an ecological catastrophe. That’s the contradictory society in which we live: more and more people are taking care of themselves in most aspects of life, but more and more they take for granted the efficacy and safety of hormonal birth control. Dr. Kalamarides of the Vitae Clinic is working to provide an alternative to the health contradiction through NaPro (Natural Procreative) Technology.
NaPro is a natural method of preventing or achieving pregnancy through basic education of the woman’s natural physiological status throughout her monthly cycle. She tracks her natural bodily status (bleeding, vaginal mucus) and charts it to determine when she is fertile. Most women have predictable cycles of menstruation, dry, and fertile stages (seen in the example below). Understanding when one’s body is fertile is the key to pregnancy prevention and achievement.
According to the NaPro site:
NaProTECHNOLOGY uses the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System biomarkers to monitor easily and objectively the occurrence of various hormonal events during the menstrual cycle. NaProtracking provides valid information that can be interpreted by a woman and by physicians who are specifically trained in this system.
Unlike common suppressive or destructive approaches, NaProTECHNOLOGY works cooperatively with the procreative and gynecologic systems. When these systems function abnormally, NaProTECHNOLOGY identifies the problems and cooperates with the menstrual and fertility cycles that correct the condition, maintain the human ecology, and sustain the procreative potential.
NaPro can be used to treat a whole host of fertility and sexual conditions; it is more effective than all other forms of birth control (99.5% method effectiveness); and there are absolutely no side effects. Imagine that—an effective, natural method for preventing (or achieving) pregnancy that works without altering the woman’s physiology—what’s the catch? Why isn’t this method being promoted by any mainstream women’s health organization and getting scant attention in the medical field? The benefit-of-the-doubt answer: because it’s a new technology (NaPro is a recent development). The cynical answer: there’s no money in it.
Whereas “the pill” will cost (either the patient or the insurance company) $35-55 a pop ($1,000-$1,700 a month), NaPro costs nothing (that’s right: $0) unless you want a snazzy iPhone app (free to download but comes with a $3/month charge for data service). Of course, if there are infertility problems, hormone supplements may be recommended to achieve pregnancy, but the charting itself and pregnancy prevention is free. So, clearly, there is a monetary benefit to the medical and pharmaceutical industry to push hormonal birth control and suppress NaPro. There are other benefits to the pill (improved complexion, cycle regulation), but the reproductive benefits can be addressed using NaPro and without fighting the natural cycle of the woman.
If you are sexually active, you owe it to yourself to research NaPro and Natural Family Planning. Your health and the health of your loved ones is too valuable to trust in the hands of a single-minded corporation.
