Talk:Fertility awareness

I don't think these should all be redirected into each other. It's generally better form to keep them separate, especially if there's reason to think something can stand as its own entry, and most of these can. Anyone else care to weigh in? --TheCunctator

Uh, what is it that shouldn't be redirected into each other? What topics are being combined? --Wesley

From the Recent Changes:

The following were combined into this entry

Actually, looking at the edits more carefully, the Epopt created each of the above as redirects. So at some point someone might want to split them up, but it's not like anyone redirected earlier entries. --TheCunctator

"Very effective"? If I understand the statistic correctly (and it's not detailed), that means nearly one in 10 women using it *as described* will get pregnant in any one year of using the method continuously (and, if I've done my sums right, that gives a sexually-active woman who doesn't want a child less than a 1-in-10 chance of making it 20 years without an unwanted pregnancy). IIRC every modern mechanical or chemical contraceptive performs better than this. --Robert Merkel

I would say at least as effective rather than very. If you read the numbers on various types of the pill they suffer from what is euphemistically knowns as 'break through ovulation' (i.e., sometimes women ovulate anyway), especially with the more recent (post 1985?) lower dosage pills; condoms, of course, have a failure rate only anecdotally available - and the anecdotes put them between 5 and 10% of total times used, which is higher than 10% per annum. Oh - and, we have to talk about statistics in actual use vs. statistics in studies. 'Breakthrough Ovulation' is probably partially dosage levels and partially dosage irregularity. I'm sure implanted hormonal birth conrtol is much more regular, but it has plenty of unpleasant side effects that lead people to seeking other methods. Natural Family Planning users joke that their biggest statistical problem is that the people who use natural family planning want more children than the typical average, so they don't tend to show the kind of volume control zero-population growth people would like to see. I tend to agree - I don't think you'll find many people who actually practice any form of NFP who actually want only one child. I think they could do it, but that's not what they're after; they're looking to usefully or carefully space 5 or 6 or 8 children. --MichaelTinkler, godfather of a 3rd child in a 5 child family and a 4th child in a 4 child family.

oh, and now I've gone and looked at some planned parenthood pages (the most important U.S. advocate for all sorts of family planning) and contributed a little to oral contraceptives talk. Condoms and birth control pills don't look a lot better than nfp unless 'perfectly used'. Depoprovera is undoubtedly another thing entirely. MichaelTinkler