Physicians Take Note of Rising Interest in Natural Birth Control

Driven by a desire to learn more about their bodies, an increasing number of American women are ditching commonly prescribed birth control and turning toward more natural methods.These methods are often referred to as non-hormonal or non-invasive, and described by the National Institutes of Health as allowing “women to maintain a regular menses cycle without loss of menstruation or unscheduled and irregular bleeding.”After years of experiencing debilitating side effects from the pill, Hannah Killgore, 26, read the book “Beyond the Pill” and turned to holistic medicine. She now avoids pregnancy by tracking her fertility with the help of an app. The so-called Fertility Awareness Method used by Ms. Killgore “is knowing and recognizing when the fertile time occurs in the menstrual cycle,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Only about 2 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 use these methods, described as “periodic abstinence,” in tandem with cycle tracking methods as a contraceptive method, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Yet studies have shown up to 58 percent of women are interested in using fertility awareness based methods and 19 percent of women already use fertility and cycle trackers at least once a month.What is striking about the latest trend is that while such natural methods of birth control are favored by Catholics and other women whose religions proscribe some or all contraceptives, the new data suggest that even non-religious women are turning to these more natural methods.The interest in natural methods hasn’t gone unnoticed by obstetricians and gynecologists. Over the past four years, a New York City physician affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital, Neha Sheth, has received an increasing number of requests for no-hormone or lower-hormone birth control.“Patients are now learning from word of mouth,” Dr. Sheth says. After 27 years in medicine, a physician in Plant City, Florida, who is affiliated with BayCare Medical Group, Carlos Lamoutte, has shifted his entire practice to promoting non-pharmaceutical methods of birth control. Dr. Lamoutte says doctors who use Fertility Awareness Methods don’t use the phrase “natural family planning” any more because “people assume it’s the rhythm method, but that’s not it. Patients know exactly when fertility is taking place.”While the use of natural methods is still fairly marginal among women in America, it is common in some religious communities where the movement started. “The Catholic Church is behind the natural method and has been fighting [for it] since the 1960s,” a representative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Theresa Notare, says. Natural family planning is officially supported by the Catholic Church as part of its “moral tradition” and “sacrament of marriage,” Ms. Notare says. The bishops’ conference website reports that natural family planning methods are 97 percent to 99 percent effective at avoiding pregnancy.Planned Parenthood, however, says Fertility Awareness Methods are only 76 percent to 88 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.With more than 35 years of experience, a physician in Asheville, North Carolina, affiliated with Mission Hospital, Vicky Scott, dismisses Fertility Awareness Methods, saying that birth control “is not that complicated” and that natural family planning really only works “for people with a regular cycle.”The typical profile of women asking for natural family planning are those who are “married or in a long-term relationship,” Dr. Scott says, which does not speak to the average woman asking for contraception. Dr. Sheth views Fertility Awareness Methods as a consideration of last resort, saying if “that is the only method that works for the patient, then we can talk about it.”The top three common contraceptive methods are hormonal or require a medical procedure. The most popular among American women aged 15 to 49 are sterilization, like tubal ligation, used by 18 percent; the birth control pill, by 14 percent; and long-acting reversible contraceptives, used by 10 percent, according to the CDC. Methods like sterilization and intrauterine devices are often chosen because they are a one-time or infrequent procedure, more convenient, and predictable. “Women are getting busier with work, family, and life,” Dr. Sheth says. The growing interest in natural birth control, despite the questions of efficacy and lack of widespread use, is confirmed by Dr. Lamoutte. More and more nonreligious couples are requesting his services, he said, adding, “We attract a lot of young couples that just want a healthier form of birth control.” Of the 13 women actively seeking non-hormonal methods who spoke to the Sun, only four sought them, in part, for religious reasons. Women are increasingly relying on these alternative methods because of a desire to “witness one’s health” and “understand the self better,” a 34-year-old who uses and now teaches a Fertility Awareness Method, Chloe Skerlak, says.After years of dissatisfaction with hormonal birth control, Ms. Skerlak turned to natural methods after taking lessons from an instructor in her basement. “I started for birth control and stayed for body literacy,” Ms. Skerlak says. The growing interest in alternative birth control has generated interest from academics and other researchers who are increasingly focusing their efforts on the field.At the University of Connecticut, a lab funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is studying the similarities between fruit fly ovulation and human ovulation to screen for non-hormonal methods of birth control.The National Institutes of Health is making a flexible non-hormonal ring that can be inserted and removed by the woman herself, arguing that the product will fill “a critical gap in reproductive health.”While interest in non-hormonal and non-invasive birth control methods is growing, the debate over their effectiveness has left women seeking alternatives without comprehensive support or recognition.Even doctors have had to educate themselves about the new methods. Dr. Lamoutte said that during his 30 years as a practitioner, he had heard only one doctor mention a Fertility Awareness Method. “There’s no requirement that gynecologists be trained in natural methods,” he said. In the absence of official guidance from health care providers about the alternative methods, women are turning to the internet and word of mouth to learn about non-hormonal methods.Among the 20 women the Sun spoke to, all attributed their knowledge of new birth control options mostly to social media, online articles, podcasts, books, friends, apps, or non-medical health instructors. Very rarely did their regular physicians suggest it. In fact, several decided to get off of birth control without informing their doctors. Women looking for alternatives to hormonal birth control have had to turn to trial-and-error when searching for the right methods.“I don’t think it’s general knowledge at this point that there are more options,” 48-year-old Elizabeth Zaricky says of her experience delving into education and teaching on the topic.During her birth control journey, Mrs. Zaricky has gotten certified in a specific Fertility Awareness Method called the Creighton Model. “Doctors are so busy they don’t have time to explain everything about fertility,” Mrs. Zaricky says, so she educates people and refers them to physicians after going over the basics.“Let me show you how this body process actually works. I talk to couples and some people don’t even understand that,” she says. Her oldest daughter is a late teenager and Mrs. Zaricky says she’s grateful she’ll one day be able to hand down this knowledge to her daughter.

Physicians Take Note of Rising Interest in Natural Birth Control

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