Whoa, nuns are teaching natural family planning? What do they know?
Well, I would say they're experts at the abstinence part!
Nuns have been teaching NFP for decades. Mother Teresa was a huge proponent of it, and her order, the Missionaries of Charity, have instructed couples in India since the 1960s, and world-wide since then. Here's a nice article about that: http://www.prolife.org.ph/news/index.php/2009/03/the-patroness-of-nfp/.
And it's not just Catholics teaching NFP in third world countries. For example, community health workers in Ethiopia are also promoting it: http://www.usaid.gov/stories/ethiopia/ss_eth_planning.html.
I thought you had to use charts and thermometers and all sorts of things to practice NFP. How can NFP work with poor, illiterate couples?
While we Westerners prefer to use charts and special rules to determine our times of fertility and infertility, it's really not necessary. There are all manner of other ways to track it (everything from cyclebeads to sticks), but when it comes down to it, there's just one thing you need to know: If there's mucus, abstain until three days after it's gone. After all, everyone knows a seed needs moisture to grow!
Okay, so maybe some people in the third world can use it. But what about Africa and the HIV-AIDS crisis? Condoms are an absolute necessity there!
Not if Uganda is any indication!
But before I go into any more detail on that, please let me put out the disclaimer that I am definitely not an expert on HIV-AIDS prevention/spread/treatment/etc, public policy/global aid/etc, Africa (period), or anything else. I am just really interested in the fact that there are other ways to approach this deadly problem, though they're often ignored. I think the unspoken belief is that we do need some sort of population control for these primitive heathens who can't keep it in their pants. A piece of rubber is the quick and easy solution. I know that's rather harsh and inflammatory language, but I myself have been guilty of thinking along these lines in the past (please forgive me), and I assume I'm not the only one. Despite our misconceptions, people there are still intelligent enough to understand alternative options to condoms and to weigh the pros and cons of various methods. I'm not going to suggest that NFP is the perfect way to deal with AIDS there - I think that would be naive. But I will suggest that condoms aren't the end-all be-all solution and there definitely is something to be said for NFP and (gasp!) abstinence.
"Condoms don't work. In addition to doing little physically to prevent the transmission of HIV, condoms exacerbate the problem by promoting promiscuity in places where that behavior is most deadly at this point in time."
The article: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0079.htm
"Abstinence is often dismissed as a potential prevention method. Condom promotion and "safe-sex" initiatives have long been thought to be the answer to stopping the spread of HIV: Instead of encouraging people to curb their libidos, these initiatives have tried to provide "safer" ways of exercising them. However, in many African nations condoms aren’t looked upon kindly: there are a variety of urban legends that circulate in some regions that condoms are either ethnic cleansing tools or actually spread HIV themselves. (During the Cold War, the Soviet KGB spread "disinformation" that the United States created the AIDS virus to kill off Africans.)"
The article: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0074.html
I know what some of you are thinking: who can believe a Catholic news source? (Although please note that the last one is citing results from a Harvard study, which I think we can all agree is a secular source.) So I'll switch to the least biased sources (in either direction) that I can find.
Let's head to Uganda!
(from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_Uganda)
Uganda is actually an African AIDS success story. After AIDS reached ridiculously scary high rates there in the 1980s, the president started a mass campaign against it, with a cute ABC theme: Abstain, Be faithful, and use Condoms if A and B fail. The result? HIV infection rates declined some 6-15%. (At least. Other sources have said up to a 50%-75% decline.)
Yes, I realize I just said use condoms. However,
"Condoms were definitely not the main element of the AIDS prevention message in the early years. President Museveni said, "We are being told that only a thin piece of rubber stands between us and the death of our Continent ... they (condoms) cannot become the main means of stemming the tide of AIDS.""
"Several reports show that the decline in AIDS prevalence in Uganda was due to monogamy and abstinence and not to condoms. According to Dr. Edward Green, an anthropologist at Harvard University and an expert on Uganda's AIDS programs, fidelity to one's partner was the most important factor in Uganda's success, followed by abstinence. A 2004 Science study concluded that abstinence among young people and monogamy, rather than condom use, contributed to the decline of AIDS in Uganda."
Here's more about that Science study, from another source: http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/ED007047-0E93-4964-9FBA-AA887D42817E.asp. Quotes from the original research study in this article:
"The outcome [of Uganda's program] was equivalent to a highly effective vaccine."
"Reduction in sexual partners and abstinence among unmarried sexually inexperienced youth … rather than condom use, are the relevant factors in reducing HIV incidence."
Sidenote: I like that monogamy and faithfulness is referred to as "zero grazing." :)
Another sidenote: The Uganda results are not without controversy. And some critics have said the rate is rising again. (Why? Here's one suggestion: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071112.html.)
Phew - I've babbled long enough. The two take-home messages of this post:
Promoting monogamy and abstinence is an effective tool in the battle against AIDS.
Natural Family Planning can and does work in third world countries.
What are your thoughts? (Please note that we're all aware that the UN and other organizations clamorously promote condom use.) For example, are we Westerners promoting various means of "family planning" to make sure "poor people don't reproduce"? Do you believe abstinence and monogamy are unfairly rejected outright or impossibly high ideals? If the latter, is it because of a primitive heathen mentality or just an overall low opinion of male self-control?
Please remember to be nice and that we obviously won't solve the problem in these comments :)
**Update 7-30-09: Here's an interview with a Harvard professor who also says that condoms don't work, and we have to focus on behavior change: http://www.tempi.it/007320-liberal-academic-edward-green-pope-right-about-aids-and-condom