Our Daughters Deserve Better

It happens way too often. I’ll hear from one of the young women learning NFP from CCL who would like help reviewing their chart. That’s the good part. The frustrating part is that they often don’t know enough to help me answer their questions. Our daughters deserve better.

One example is a 29-year-old woman who was happy to be learning the Sympto-Thermal Method before her wedding. She had gone off of the pill several months prior to her classes, and now was seeing cycle irregularities. A review of her chart confirmed that she wasn’t experiencing a normal, healthy fertility cycle.

At this point in a consultation, we don’t yet know whether this is residual effects from the pill or if the chart reflects her natural hormones. So I asked her what her cycles were like before she went on the pill.

“Oh, I have no idea! I was put on it when I started having bad cramps at 14 and have been on it until three months ago.”

Fifteen years of artificial cycles! She was nearly 30 years old, about to be married and had no knowledge of her natural fertility.

Our daughters and young young women deserve better!

Empowering moms to empower their daughters

As more and more attention is given to the importance of the female menstrual cycle — some physicians call it the “5th vital sign” — we can help women pass along information about fertility to their daughters.

CCL has just launched a new online program from Live the Love for moms and daughters, centered around a series of short video lessons: “Fertility 101: Basic facts every young woman should know.” Younger daughters can hear about the fertility cycles and basics of fertility awareness alongside their moms in talks from a CCL teacher, a nurse practitioner and an OB/GYN. Moms of older teens can opt to let their daughters watch on their own. For moms there is bonus content and a community area to support each other.

Help your daughter discover and treasure the gift of being female. Empower her with knowledge she deserves to have. Teach her to advocate for better approaches to cycle irregularities than the birth control pill.

by Ann Gundlach
Director of Communications