Bridget Busacker, a public health communications professional and founder of the online resource Managing Your Fertility, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” show host Patrick Conley to discuss natural family planning.
Busacker manages a website that she calls “an online, one-stop shop of fertility awareness resources for women and couples.” She said it provides information for fertility awareness-based methods approved by the Catholic Church, usually under the term “natural family planning.” Busacker said “natural family planning” and “fertility awareness methods” mean the same thing — the practice of understanding how a woman’s fertility cycles work in order to help a couple plan a family.
“But, also, it’s just really good to know how your body works,” she said.
Busacker said she explains “the science and theology of the body, of how it is integrated, how it works, and then providing practical resources for couples and women.” She said she also can help connect people with a caregiver.
Fertility awareness methods track fertile and infertile times during a woman’s reproductive cycle based on daily observation, most often by checking temperature, cervical mucus and hormonal changes, which fluctuate during the cycle. “And then, specific to the Church’s teaching — where we do not promote the use of birth control during fertile times — abstinence is practiced to avoid pregnancy instead of a barrier method, Busacker said.
That’s an aspect that gets a lot of people “riled up,” she said, “like why does the Church believe this? But there’s really good theology and scientific knowledge as to why that makes sense.”
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usacker said fertility awareness is not simply about not getting pregnant.
“There’s a greater awareness of one’s self because … as we know, we are body and soul,” she said. “So, as we gain an appreciation for our body and the rhythms of our body and that sort of thing, we gain that.”
Busacker said practicing fertility awareness can also deepen couple’s relationships. To learn more about her premise and about natural family planning’s effectiveness, tune in to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show at 9 p.m. Feb. 12, 1 p.m. Feb. 13 or 2 p.m. Feb. 14 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Busacker’s website is managingyourfertility.com.
“Practicing Catholic” is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and broadcast on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Other guest interviews on the Feb. 12 “Practicing Catholic” show are Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who discusses faithful citizenship, and Joe Masek, who describes the Cana Family Institute.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired:
