Title: 
Getting FAMiliar With Another Natural Birth Control Method

Word Count:
599

Summary:
This article focuses on another natural birth 

control method known as FAM. Any method of 

identifying the fertile and infertile time in the 

menstrual cycle by self observation is a kind of 

Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). FAM is a natural 

birth control method that is safe and highly 

effective when used correctly and consistently.


Keywords:
birth control


Article Body:
For many couples, having a child is a source of 

joy brought about by careful thought and conscious 

choice. It is also a tough decision to make most 

especially for women who have other things in mind 

such as their career or further studies. For 

millions of women and their partners who opt not 

to get pregnant, contraception is always a viable 

option.
Christians have always condemned contraceptive 

sex. Both forms mentioned in the Bible, “coitus 

interruptus” and sterilization, are condemned 

without exception. The early Fathers recognized 

that the purpose of sexual intercourse in natural 

law is procreation, hence contraceptive sex, which 

deliberately blocks that purpose, is a violation 

of natural law. However, in this day and age, 

things are changing and contraception can not be 

disregarded.
Birth control or contraception is a course of 

therapy involving one or more actions, devices, or 

medications that prevents pregnancy. In other 

words, the mechanisms responsible for lessening 

the possibility of the fertilization of an ovum by 

a spermatozoon can be precisely referred to as 

contraception.
Stepping into the past, the oldest methods of 

contraception included “coitus interruptus,” 

certain barrier methods, and herbal methods. 

Historic records say that Egyptian women used a 

pessary made of various acidic substances and 

lubricated with honey or oil, which was good at 

killing sperm. In Asia, women took to oiled paper 

as a cervical cap while the Europeans had 

supposedly used bee wax. 

It was not before the seventeenth century that the 

condom came into being. The earliest forms of 

condoms were actually made from animal intestine. 

It was only with the advent of modern latex 

condoms, that they became all the very effective 

and accepted. It came to prominence as an 

effective means of contraception and not to 

mention giving hopes avoiding syphilis whatsoever.
There are other types of contraception, too many 

to choose from, but if couples want to go for a 

natural birth control method, Fertility Awareness 

Method (FAM) can be a solution. Any method of 

identifying the fertile and infertile time in the 

menstrual cycle by self observations is a kind of 

fertility awareness method. The term Fertility 

Awareness Method, or FAM, however, has come to be 

associated with the “three over six” way of 

identifying ovulation and the infertile or fertile 

time. This method, similarly described by both the 

World Health Organization and Professor John 

Marshall in the 1960s and geared largely for 

couples wishing to avoid pregnancy, identifies 

ovulation after three temperatures above the 

previous six temperatures have been observed and 

cervical fluid has dried up. A coverline is then 

drawn slightly above the highest of the six 

temperatures before the temperature rise.
FAM also refers to a natural birth control method 

outside of a religious framework that supports the 

use of barrier methods (such as condom, diaphragm, 

and spermicide), emergency contraception, and 

abortion.  It allows a woman to identify days in 

her menstrual cycle on which they are likely to be 

fertile. Many women use this information to help 

them get pregnant, but it can also be used to help 

them avoid pregnancy.
FAM is often confused with the ineffective rhythm 

method, which uses mathematical calculations based 

on past cycle lengths to predict infertile days 

for the present cycle. FAM relies only on daily 

observation of fertility changes in the present 

and is deemed more effective. It eliminates the 

problems of hormones affecting the milk in 

breastfeeding women and avoids the hassle of 

staining which can occur with pills and IUDs.
FAM is a natural birth control method that is safe 

and highly effective when used correctly and 

consistently.


