“By using contraception, married couples may think that they are avoiding problems or easing tensions, that they are exerting control over their lives.  At the same time, they may think that they are doing nothing harmful to their marriages.  In reality, the deliberate separation of the procreative and unitive meanings of marriage has the potential to damage or destroy the marriage.  Also, it results in many other negative consequences, both personal and social.”

“Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods represent authentic family planning.  They can be used both to achieve and to postpone a pregnancy.  NFP makes use of periodic abstinence from sexual intercourse based upon the observation of the women’s natural signs of fertility, in order to space births or to limit the number of children when there is a serious reason to do so.  NFP methods require that couples learn, accept, and live with the wonders of how God made them.  This is essentially different from contraception.”

To read the documents, go to  http://www.usccb.org/loveandlife/.