Then people say “Oh, well it CAN be effective, but it’s REALLY complicated, and you have to be SO intelligent and SO organized and SO careful for it work. Really? How much intelligence does it take to see if you are dry that day? If you have any cervical fluid, don’t have unprotected sex again until your basal temp has signifcantly raised for three days. Gee whiz, that is SOOOOO complex.
Honestly, I had A LOT more trouble taking a pill every day at the same time.

FAM is not the right birth control for every woman, but neither are hormonal methods, and neither are condoms. Some women have horrible side effects from the pill. My mother can’t even get a prescription for the pill because of her medical history. Some people have latex allergies, and some people have moral oppositions to the animal products used in other BC methods, or the effect their production has on the environment. It’s just ridiculous that people who have clearly done no research on an alternative BC method feel it is perfectly acceptable for them to go around spreading misinformation about its effectiveness or its level of difficulty.

“.. `natural’ methods such as Billings are often neglected in the wider debateâ€? – Modia
They’re (rightly) neglected because they don’t work. As a million years of human evolution might lead you to expect.

What I meant was that any discussion of birth control usually centres around condoms, the Pill, and not much else – the fact remains that it’s part of the mix, some people use it, and the reasons they do are worth examining. If it doesn’t work (broadly, everyone’s about right – it’s accurate if you’re good at it, hopeless if you’re not. I wouldn’t dream of it myself), that’s possibly an even better reason to discuss it. There are teenagers I’ve certainly known who relied on a garbled combination of the withdrawal and Billings methods, in the sure confidence – often disproven all too quickly – that it was `99% reliable’.

What interests me most isn’t the rational decisions people make – it’s the irrational ones. In Africa, for example, traditional forms of natural birth control have been practiced for centuries and it’s very difficult to get a population that tends to be suspicious and superstitious to use them, even despite AIDS. Even in Western society, there’s a belief amongst some men that wearing a condom is some sort of threat to their virility and insist on not wearing them. Neither’s a logical position to take, but plenty of people do take them.

There’s nothing that works better in marriage than a nappy over the head. All good Catholic obstetricians know that.

Then again I went to the type of Catholic school where Brother Brendan would yell at us that we’d burn in hell if the First 18 didn’t win on Wednesday afternoon, rather than the type where you were given a solid grounding in casuistry. Can someone help me out here?

Steve rhymes with naive it seems. Simply google wiki for the Billings method and check the failure rates steve. There are ample studies to back that up. You’ll get a pleasant surprise at how they compare with the pill and condoms mate. However as I said, Billings is used by committed partners in contraception, which is why it’s so successful. Fun too when you both decide to plan having kids and I’d thoroughly recommend it and no I’m not Catholic. More yer snipped lapsed Anglican.

Utter garbage. As Anna points out, it only ever works if you work really hard at it.

You really must distinguish between propositions that would be nice if true and propositions that are actually true. If you said something like “the Billings method doesn’t work very well in practice but using alternatives that do work in practice causes eternal damnation” we could at least respect your intellectual honesty.

“.. `natural’ methods such as Billings are often neglected in the wider debate” – Modia
They’re (rightly) neglected because they don’t work. As a million years of human evolution might lead you to expect.

Weird, dude.

Isn’t that sort of attitude to the technological quickie fix (pardon) exactly what the Green left gaias traditionally bemoan Anna? Isn’t that the curious paradox with them, when it comes to things like abortion and contraception?

re “Some argue … – that an abortion must only take place if physical or mental duress prevents the woman from carrying the baby to term”

so it SHOULD follow then,
that sexual congress should ONLY take place where both parties contract first,
to form (as observa says above) a

“caring, settled relationship and partnership in contraception” … oh wait, we’ve already got that, it’s called Marriage … and 50% of them fail
We will just have to stop people having sex.

Abortion is just like going to the toilet really. Funny how some women get all constipated over the odd stillborn, or want to get in touch years later with the odd live one they give away. Neurotic types I suppose.

Billings’ wife had nine children. Whether or not this was intentional I don’t know, but it makes for an interesting fact…

The rhythm method (which is essentially what he is advocating, judging on the consistency of the vaginal mucous) is a load of boots. Trust me, I know.

I’m kind of torn between this idea that abortion is a decision not taken lightly. I think it’s probably the kind of term that’s thrown around to excuse the decision – you know, I did it, but it was a difficult decision, one I thought long and hard about.

The reality is that most women reflecting upon their abortions feel relief, and probably didn’t find it that difficult a decision to make at all. The difficulty is really in the fear of what might happen, the expectation of guilt we’re supposed to feel and the waiting period (abortions won’t be performed before 7 weeks usually, which can mean a few weeks waiting period).

I’ve said this here before, but I’ll say it again – I think that to move forward in the area of abortion legalisation and acceptance, there needs to be more discussion of these things. I know quite a few women who’ve had abortions and not one of them regrets it, or indeed feels any kind of long term mental anguish as a result. That’s the thing we need to be saying, over and over – that we don’t feel guilty for exercising a choice that we conversely say is our absolute right.

I saw a woman yesterday who was one day overdue for giving birth. As any woman here who’s had a baby can tell you, there’s a giant piece of difference between a full term baby and a splodge the size of a grain of rice.

I can’t be bothered going into America. It’s too depressing. I will say this though – in America, you have to pay for abortions and that’s just for the basic procedure. For this, you’ll pay between $200- $500. If you want an anaesthetic on top of this, you’ll have to pay more. FOR ANAESTHETIC!!!