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The Couple to Couple League is an international non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio, dedicated to teaching and promoting Natural Family Planning. Specifically, CCL promotes the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness, and also promotes exclusive and continued breastfeeding. CCL views natural family planning as "a way of life, not just a method of birth regulation", and includes moral and religious values from a Roman Catholic point of view in its publications and classes.
The Couple to Couple League was founded in 1971 by John and Sheila Kippley, and lay Catholics, with the help of Dr. Konald Prem. The League was the first organization to teach a symptoms-based method of fertility awareness that relied on all three primary fertility signs: temperature, mucus, and cervical position. [1] CCL has grown to be the largest natural family planning provider in the United States, teaching the sympto-thermal method to almost 8,000 couples in 2004. [2]
In addition to various chapters throughout the United States, CCL has a presence in 23 other countries. [2] CCL focuses on countries where English or Spanish is an official language. [3]
CCL has 16 paid employees, all working at their headquarters building in Cincinnati, Ohio. [4] In 2006, the financial rating organization Charity Navigator gave CCL a 4-star (the highest) rating for "organizational efficiency", but due to several years of declining programming expenditures, they decided to give a 1-star rating for "organizational capacity". [5]
CCL recruits married couples who are current members of the organization as teaching couples. Teaching couples undergo training and a certification process at no further cost to themselves. [2] Teaching couples are required to agree with and live by the moral and religious beliefs advocated by CCL. [6] While teaching couples are volunteers who receive no compensation, their students are being charged a fee to cover materials used in the class, and a one-year membership with the Couple to Couple League. The membership includes a subscription to CCL's bi-monthly magazine and counseling or assistance in interpreting sympto-thermal charts. [7]
Classes normally contain moral and religious content, but teachers will sometimes honor requests for private classes with no religious information. [8]
CCL has volunteers called Promoters or Public Relations Representatives who work to increase the visibility of the organization. Like teachers, promoters are required to agree with and live by certain moral and religious requirements. [9] Family Foundations, a bi-monthly magazine, is used both as a communication tool with CCL's current supporters and as an evangelizing tool. [10] CCL also uses the Internet as a tool for spreading its message. In addition to ccli.org, the url birthcontrol.org redirects to the organization's website. [11]
While CCL strongly encourages use of their sympto-thermal method, they also teach mucus-only and temperature-only systems. In addition, their materials contain information on a calendar-based method and a proposal for a cervical-position only system. [12] CCL believes that by teaching all these methods, couples have more freedom in choosing a natural method with which they feel most comfortable. [2]
CCL also teaches and promotes ecological breastfeeding, a stricter variant of LAM. Like LAM, ecological breastfeeding provides guidelines for identifying and extending the natural period of infertility caused by breastfeeding. The Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding were developed by Sheila Kippley. The first edition of her book Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing was published in 1969. [13] CCL was recognized as an authoritative source of information on breastfeeding amenorrhea in a magazine published by La Leche League, an international breastfeeding support organization. [14] The popular fertility awareness writer Katie Singer has written about the important role Sheila Kippley and CCL have played in conducting and promoting research on lactational amenorrhea. [15]
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Humanae vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and dated 25 July 1968. The text was issued at a Vatican press conference on 29 July. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirmed the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the rejection of artificial contraception. In formulating his teaching he explained why he did not accept the conclusions of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control established by his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, a commission he himself had expanded.
Fertility awareness (FA) refers to a set of practices used to determine the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods may be used to avoid pregnancy, to achieve pregnancy, or as a way to monitor gynecological health.
The Pearl Index, also called the Pearl rate, is the most common technique used in clinical trials for reporting the effectiveness of a birth control method. It is a very approximate measure of the number of unintended pregnancies in 100 woman-years of exposure that is simple to calculate, but has a number of methodological deficiencies.
Calendar-based methods are various methods of estimating a woman's likelihood of fertility, based on a record of the length of previous menstrual cycles. Various methods are known as the Knaus–Ogino method and the rhythm method. The standard days method is also considered a calendar-based method, because when using it, a woman tracks the days of her menstrual cycle without observing her physical fertility signs. The standard days method is based on a fixed formula taking into consideration the timing of ovulation, the functional life of the sperm and the ovum, and the resulting likelihood of pregnancy on particular days of the menstrual cycle. These methods may be used to achieve pregnancy by timing unprotected intercourse for days identified as fertile, or to avoid pregnancy by avoiding unprotected intercourse during fertile days.
Mittelschmerz is a colloquial term for "ovulation pain" or "midcycle pain". About 20% of women experience mittelschmerz, some every cycle, some intermittently.
Amenorrhea is the absence of a menstrual period in a female who has reached reproductive age. Physiological states of amenorrhoea are seen, most commonly, during pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding). Outside the reproductive years, there is absence of menses during childhood and after menopause.
The diaphragm is a barrier method of birth control. It is moderately effective, with a one-year failure rate of around 12% with typical use. It is placed over the cervix with spermicide before sex and left in place for at least six hours after sex. Fitting by a healthcare provider is generally required.
Casti connubii is a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius XI on 31 December 1930 in response to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion. It stressed the sanctity of marriage, prohibited Catholics from using any form of artificial birth control, and reaffirmed the prohibition on abortion. It also explained the authority of church doctrine on moral matters, and advocated that civil governments follow the lead of the church in this area.
The Billings ovulation method is a method in which women use their vaginal mucus to determine their fertility. It does not rely on the presence of ovulation, rather it identifies patterns of potential fertility and obvious infertility within the cycle, whatever its length. Effectiveness, however, is not very clear.
Semen collection refers to the process of obtaining semen from human males or other animals with the use of various methods, for the purposes of artificial insemination, or medical study. Semen can be collected via masturbation, prostate massage, artificial vagina, penile vibratory stimulation (vibroejaculation) and electroejaculation. Semen can be collected from endangered species for cryopreservation of genetic resources.
Prior to the 20th century, three major branches of Christianity—Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism —generally held a critical perspective of birth control. Among Christian denominations today, however, there is a large variety of views regarding birth control that range from the acceptance of birth control to only allowing natural family planning to teaching Quiverfull doctrine, which disallows contraception and holds that Christians should have large families.
Natural family planning (NFP) comprises the family planning methods approved by the Catholic Church and some Protestant denominations for both achieving and postponing or avoiding pregnancy. In accordance with the Church's teachings regarding sexual behavior, NFP excludes the use of other methods of birth control, which it refers to as "artificial contraception".
Basal body temperature is the lowest body temperature attained during rest. It is usually estimated by a temperature measurement immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken. This will lead to a somewhat higher value than the true BBT.
Lactational amenorrhea, also called postpartum infertility, is the temporary postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding.
Decrement tables, also called life table methods, are used to calculate the probability of certain events.
Religious adherents vary widely in their views on birth control. This can be true even between different branches of one faith, as in the case of Judaism and Christianity. Some religious believers find that their own opinions of the use of birth control differ from the beliefs espoused by the leaders of their faith, and many grapple with the ethical dilemma of what is conceived as "correct action" according to their faith, versus personal circumstance, reason, and choice. This article will discuss various views on birth control of the major world religions Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Baha'i.
Mary Pride is an American author and magazine producer on homeschooling and topics from a theologically conservative stance within Christian fundamentalism. She is best known for her writings on women’s roles and her homeschoooling works, while she has also written on parental rights and the need to shelter children from what she has deemed "corrupting influences" from modern culture. For her role in authoring guides for the homeschooling movement, Pride has been described as "the queen of the home school movement" and as a "homeschooling guru". Stemming from her first book, The Way Home, she is also considered a primary source in the philosophy of the fundamentalist Christian Quiverfull movement.
Condom effectiveness is how effective condoms are at preventing STDs and pregnancy. Correctly using male condoms and other barriers like female condoms and dental dams, every time, can reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and viral hepatitis. They can also provide protection against other diseases that may be transmitted through sex like Zika and Ebola. Using male or female condoms correctly, every time, can also help prevent pregnancy.
Social teachings of Pope Pius XII refers to encyclicals, apostolic constitutions and speeches by Pope Pius XII on non-theological issues involving medicine, science, education, social justice, family and sexuality, and occupations.
Irregular menstruation is a menstrual disorder whose manifestations include irregular cycle lengths as well as metrorrhagia. The possible causes of irregular menstruation may vary. The common factors of it are related to lifestyle, such as stress, body weight, and smoking status. Several studies indicate that COVID-19 vaccine of any type may disrupt the menstrual cycle, although only momentarily. This side effect should resolve on its own in the following month.
