by Chukwumah Ezeobika

Created on: September 28, 2010

Temporary Abstinence requires couples to avoid sex on certain days to prevent the woman from getting pregnant. Such days are the days on which she is supposed to be fertile. Temporary abstinence is the basis for most methods of Natural Family Planning. It is also known as Periodic Abstinence. (1)

Natural family planning is a number of methods of preventing pregnancy which do not incorporate or allow the use of artificial devices. Such artificial devices may include condoms, diaphragms, oral contraceptive pills, intra-uterine contraceptive devices (IUCDs) or surgical sterilization (vasectomy or tubal ligation).

The determination of the days on which the woman is fertile is done using several methods. Those different methods are thus, the different methods of temporary abstinence.

Methods of Temporary Abstinence for Natural Family Planning (1) (2) (3) (4)

These are the methods which allow couples to determine which days to abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy.

Calendar-Based Methods

Calendar-based methods track the length of a woman’s menstrual cycle and designate some days as days on which the woman is fertile and the other days as infertile.

-          Standard Days Method: This method simply marks days of the months as fertile or infertile. A product called Cycle Beads is often employed when using the Standard Days method. It is for women who have menstrual cycles that always last between 26 and 32 days.

-          Rhythm Method: The rhythm method is slightly more complex and requires a woman to subtract certain numbers from the number of days of her shortest and longest menstrual cycles. This allows her to determine the days which can be considered fertile or infertile.

Symptoms-Based Methods

Symptoms-based methods require the woman to check for body signs which help her determine whether she is fertile on a particular day or not. These signs are called fertility signs and they occur around the time a woman ovulates. They include:

The main fertility signs

-          Basal body temperature which is increased on fertile days

-          Cervical mucus which becomes clearer and more slippery on fertile days

-          Position and firmness of the cervix: The cervix is felt to be softer and situated higher up as fertility increases

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