Environmentally sound

NFP is green! Couples who are health-conscious or concerned about environmental issues are very pleased to find an all-natural method of family planning. For couples who are concerned about maintaining their health, it would be inconsistent to pollute the wife’s body with powerful chemicals, or to surgically destroy a healthy part of one’s body (i.e., vasectomy or tubal ligation). For couples concerned about the well-being of plants and wildlife, it has waste product that pollutes our water system like the hormones from hormonal contraceptives.

It’s interesting to note that long-lasting solutions to basic ecological and environmental problems depend upon people practicing self-control in one way or another. Conserving water may mean not wasting it with long, luxurious showers, or not watering the lawn during the heat of the day even though that is the most convenient time. Recycling garbage can take up enough time to be considered a minor hobby. Not dumping chemicals and toxic waste in landfills can entail going to burdensome lengths to ensure that the land and water table are protected. We accept self-control in all of these other areas as an integral part of environmental responsibility. The same applies when we deal with the issue of birth regulation. It takes some self-control to practice NFP, but it pays off in the benefits to health and in the more important “ecology” of our marital relationship.