Birth Control - THE RHYTHM METHOD

THE RHYTHM METHOD

 This is a method of periodic abstinence based on the fact that women are able to conceive during only part of each month. During her fertile years, a woman ovulates, or releases an egg cell from an ovary, about once a month. Leaving the ovary, the egg travels down a fallopian tube toward the womb. If a sperm unites with the egg, conception occurs. 

For about two weeks after ovulation, the lining of the womb, its tissues built up through an enriched supply of blood, is ready to nest and nourish the fertilized egg. If conception does not occur, the unused, built-up tissue breaks down and is discharged in the process known as menstruation. While the time varies somewhat among women, menstruation generally occurs fourteen days after ovulation. A woman's safe period averages about twenty days long, starting ten days prior to menstruation and lasting until about ten days after menstruation begins. 

Usually, conception can occur only when intercourse takes place during the middle days of the menstrual cycle, the period four or five days before to four or five days after ovulation. Since the safe period varies according to the menstrual cycle, each woman must determine it for herself. Some women can tell when ovulation occurs because at that time, midway between periods, they experience inter menstrual pain, a peculiar, sudden, spasmodic sensation opposite one of the ovaries, followed by a heavy feeling in the lower abdomen which may last several hours. If they are alert for it, most women will observe an unusual mucous secretion at that time. 

These indications are helpful in determining the exact day of ovulation. Much more accurate, however, is a rise in temperature, which occurs at this time, usually between 0.60 and 0.8 OF. To determine the period of ovulation, you should keep a temperature chart [or no less than three month", taking your temperature for five minutes every morning after awakening while still in bed. In even the most regular women, illness or an emotional upset may delay ovulation. When this happens, calculations will be in. Because of this possibility, the rhythm method cannot be considered as reliable as the condom or pessary.

 It has the disadvantage, too, of limiting days for coitus. One of its advantages is that it depends upon both partners; it is a joint responsibility. And because it does not depend upon an artificial device, it is morally and ethically acceptable III Roman Catholics and members of certain other religious denominations. For complete safety-when, for example, pregnancy could seriously threaten health or life-we feel that all couples whose religious beliefs permit should use both the condom and the diaphragm-contraceptive- I ream or IUD methods and should avoid intercourse on the days when conception might take place.