Natural Family Planning

Can I just say that the NFP Coordinator of the Diocese of Wichita just rocks!?

I just read her letter to the editor in the Wichita Eagle at Kansas.com, which responds to the recent mammography controversy that’s got everyone’s panties in a bunch, and rightly so. What’s awesome is that Judith Leonard takes advantage of a topic that’s all over the news–the mammography controversy–and gets to the heart of the matter–Breast Cancer!

Though the media elite and Medical Man would have you believe that Breast Cancer is a mysterious onslaught of the contemporary woman, but the correlation between contraception usage and breast cancer is astronomical.

Read Chris Kahlenborn’s articles on the link between Contraception & Breast Cancer (read: it’s Mayo Clinic credibility, not conspiracy theory). If that piques your interest, check out the book. Then make your judgements. Then you can write a book about the next Big Tobacco waiting to happen (forthcoming review).

In a forthcoming article in Family Foundations Magazine, I begin to break down what’s the deal with the credibility crisis in the world of natural family planning, and  ask questions about the best way to market NFP. One thought is that we need to do a better job of capitalizing on the ills of contraception, and the benefits of NFP.

This article is perhaps not the most informative in the details section, but it’s a fantastic way to introduce and promote an NFP Class. Since the fastest way to get ignored in an article or press release is to say, “Natural Family Pla….[news station clicking delete]“, it’s a clever intro. Next time: a few more details or mentions of previous studies (the Mayo Clinic metastudy for example).

The Problems with The Birth Control Pill
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9RcwKnHbQw]

This seems to be news to some– though sadly not on the radar of many–but Dr. Chris Kahlenborn has been saying this for years: taking synthetic hormones, namely hormonal replacement pills and oral contraceptives, for a sustained period of time greatly increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium this past Saturday, Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles presented the results of the study sponsored by the Women’s Health Initiative. The AP reported,

“Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.”

While the researchers emphasize that the pill use should be avoided if possible, they admit that some menopausal symptoms may be so severe that a short term risk may be worth taking hormonal replacement therapy, as long as the dose is as low as possible and continued for a short duration.

Now we can’t play chicken little every time a new study comes out, but when the sample size of a study is so large, and the results are published without a lot of controversy in the medical community (this isn’t the only litmus test, because certainly there’s a lot of valid claims that are disputed by the establishment), it makes one wonder.

It makes me wonder why nobody is connecting this to oral contraceptives? Is it about the machine of so called “big pharma”? Is it because of a cultural pride that refuses to black list the Pill because it was the so-called liberator of the sexual revolution? As contemporary sociologists have shown, most of the promises of the sexual revolution were empty, and the weapons of revolution like the Pill, have only served to contribute to the divorce explosion of the seventies, higher rates of single parenthood, low levels of participatory fathers, increased levels of delinquency–and the poor and minorities have paid the heaviest price.

This isn’t about having an axe to grind–it’s about waking up! When are we going to give up our political pride and social hubris and realize that contaceptives, and in a particular way, oral contraceptives, have not done women, families and society any favors? Janet Smith says this issue is a time bomb waiting to explode, another Big Tobacco waiting to happen, and it will only be a matter of time.

If you’re not convinced, here’s some simple suggestions for your journey to a fuller truth about the ills of synthetic hormones:

• Read Kahlenborn’s, “Breast Cancer,” and see what you think. It’s only $6. That’s a couple coffees, or the price of tampons. You can do it.
•  Listen to Janet Smith’s “Contraception: Why Not.” Distributed a million times over, this can’t just be the enthusiasm of so-called “fundies.” I prefer the revised edition because she draws from a lot of science and anthropology.
• Google “birth control” and “lawsuit”
• Read “Protecting the Pill” by Carolyn Moynihan

If you’re convinced, on board and passionate about this message, I encourage you to:

• Stop taking contraceptives if you are, for the sake of your soul, mind, body and family. Take an NFP class.
• Give informative brochures away, leave them in bathrooms, or perhaps more creatively, put them in envelopes when you pay your bills (if your’e still paying by snail mail)!
• Give out copies of “Contraception: Why Not” revised edition. They’re cheap when you order them in quantity! Make sure these are in your church foyer, especially if you’re Catholic.
• Educate medical professionals you know with the recommended resources, and ask informed medical professionals who are convinced of this message to coach you how to speak to other doctors about this.
• Print out copies of these studies and give them to your physicians and pharmacists.

Spread the message! Link to this post, and work for the true dignity of women and families. Contraception divides families and poisons women. It’s not worth the risk.