Natural family planning may be utilized by women who, for medical, religious, or other reasons, do not want to use other forms of birth control.  Periodic abstinence or fertility awareness methods require women to identify potentially fertile days and abstain from intercourse on those days to prevent pregnancy.  Several techniques can be employed to detect ovulation:

1.  Calendar method: 2.  Cervical mucus method: 3.  Basal body temperature method:

Calendar Method                                                                            

This method, in which women use the calendar to calculate when they ovulate and when they are most fertile, has the highest failure rate with perfect use of natural family planning methods.  The calculation for the fertile times is based on assumptions that ovulation occurs on day 14+or-2 days of the menstrual cycle; sperm remain viable in the reproductive tract for approximately 5 days after intercourse; and an ovum survive for about 1 day after ovulation.

Cervical Mucus Method

Ovulation is signaled by an increase in cervical secretions that are clear, stretchy, and slippery in character. This technique needs a woman to observe and touch their cervical secretions on a daily basis and record changes on a chart.  Perfect use of this method results in about 97% of protection from the pregnancy.

Basal Body Temperature

Women who chose this method to take their temperature upon awakening each morning before getting out of bed.  The daily readings should be recorded on a chart.  Ovulation is signaled by a sustained rise in temperature by at least 0.4 degrees F.  After several months of tracking their temperatures, women who ovulate regularly can estimate when to abstain from coitus prior to ovulation. Perfect use of this method results in about a 2% failure rate during the first year of use.

Sterilization

If you and your partner are certain that you don't want to have any more children, sterilization is a means of permanent birth control.  When the woman sterilized, it is called tubal sterilization. The operation does not affect the menstrual cycle or the woman's ability to enjoy sex.  A man is sterilized by vasectomy, in which the vas deferens are tied off so the sperm cannot be released.  The operation does not affect the man's ability to have erection or to ejaculate.

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