The Natural Family Planning Office has the honor of working with individuals, couples, and medical professionals who embrace God’s plan for family life. While NFP depends on the observation of biological symptoms in a woman’s cycle, the partnership and support of husbands are essential elements of the success of any NFP method. This approach to the spousal relationship builds up healthy, happy, and holy marriages rooted in the loving examples of God the Father and St. Joseph.
Risks and Drawbacks of the Secular Approach
Unfortunately, the secular cultural and medical approach to masculinity and male sexuality emphasizes pleasure above all else. The promotion of condoms and medications to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases pervades, rather than a philosophy of understanding and respect for the dignity of the man and his partner through the virtue of chastity. The trend in prescribing supplemental testosterone also poses significant long term physical risks because it actually suppresses sperm cell maturation. Although most men recover sperm production after stopping these treatments, the timeline is highly variable, and some men never fully recover fertility. The risks are so significant that in 2024, the American Urological Association issued a guideline stating that “clinicians should not prescribe exogenous testosterone therapy” for males interested in current or future fertility.
Those men actually seeking to become fathers but facing fertility challenges are met with immoral methods of sperm production and retrieval, manipulation, and the treatment of their sperm and women’s eggs as a commodity. Physicians also often ignore the fact that a male reproductive problem may be a symptom of other disease processes and lifestyle issues in the patient, adding to the complications in diagnosing and treating the issue.
With this approach, then, it is no surprise that authentic support is severely lacking in the secular world for men experiencing infertility and subfertility. These men suffer feelings of being abnormal, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, ashamed, and defeated.
How NFP Can Help
Embracing a natural family planning approach counters these challenges for a variety of reasons. When there is a problem, patients can better understand the cause and then collaborate with their providers to determine a safe and effective treatment plan that works with what is healthy in the body. The NFP approach respects patients’ morals and values throughout the diagnosis and treatment process, helping to restore feelings of dignity and confidence to both men and women.
Our team is here to support both men and women suffering through these challenges. The NFP office works with wonderful local physicians who are fully supportive of multiple NFP methods. See this list of doctors around the St. Louis region. In addition to the medical resources offered by these doctors and our office staff, we understand that spiritual support is as critical to your vocation as anything else. We invite you to contact our office to schedule a personalized coaching call, find an introductory session, or learn more about our Enkindle Ministry and support for those experiencing infertility or pregnancy loss.