Contraceptive Talk

The 19 February issue of the Times of Swaziland carried a full-page story about the advent of male hormone contraceptives, perhaps within the next 5 years. We were told that "safe, effective and reversable" contraception has been available for women since the 1960s and that male contraceptives will "empower" men. It is expected that male hormonal contraceptives will widen the gender equality avenue in Swaziland and will allow men to "take full responsibility on reproductive health matters".

Actually, there has been a "safe, effective, and reversible" method available for years that allows men to take full responsibility on reproductive health matters. It is cheap. It doesn't require hormones that alter body chemistry, and it has been shown to help couples build better marriages. It is called Natural Family Planning.

When my wife and I want to avoid pregnancy, I take her temperature every morning. I record this on a chart and with a simple analysis of the temerature day by day, we can tell when she is fertile and when she isn't. We adjust our behavior accordingly. This requires us to talk about important issues such as family size, workloads and child spacing. This communication helps us build a stronger marriage. We develop many ways to show love to each other. This strengthens our respect for each other and for ourselves. We do not view the normal functioning of our healthy bodies as an enemy to be overcome by whatever modern weapons (creams, caps, condoms, injections, synthetic hormones, surgery) are available.

Our sexuality needs to move beyond "Using others and being used by them." As the newspaper reports daily show, this leads only to self-centered misery. Natural Family Planning helps us mature so that we can learn to genuinely love our spouse with our whole body and with our whole self. This approach will empower not just men, and not just women, but couples and, by extension, families.

For a free cd explaining the pitfalls of contraception and a very brief introduction to the advantages of Natural Family Planning, visit http://www.omsoul.com/catalog/index.php?target=products&product_id=531