Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a set of Catholic-sanctioned methods of family planning, which help women to achieve or avoid pregnancy by identifying times of infertility and potential fertility. NFP excludes the use of artificial birth control methods and orgasmic acts outside of marital intercourse, promoting abstinence during high fertility times for couples trying to avoid pregnancy.

Some methods of NFP track one of the primary fertility signs: Basal body temperature, cervical mucus (e.g. Billings, Creighton, Two-Day Method), and cervical position. If two or more signs are tracked, the method is referred to as Sympto-Thermal. Other methods make statistical estimates as to when a woman is fertile (eg. Rhythm Method, Standard Days Method). The Lactational Amenorrhea Method helps identify and/or encourage breastfeeding infertility. The Rhythm Method, the most well known method of NFP, has a perfect-use failure rate of 9% per year, while other types of NFP have lower perfect-use failure rates — between 1%-3% per year. The common usage failure rate is up to 25% per year.

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NFP and total abstinence are the only contraceptive methods permitted by the Roman Catholic Church. Worldwide, many Catholics use NFP in obedience to church teaching. The practice of NFP among Catholics in developed countries, however, is rather low. In 2002, 24% of the U.S. was Catholic.Largest Religious Groups in the USA. Accessed November 13, 2005. Of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy, 1.5% were using NFP.National Survey of Family Growth Use of Contraception and Use of Family Planning Services in the United States: 1982-2002. Advance Data No. 350

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