# New Report:  Abstinence Only Education Works!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 3, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597 "2010-02-03T22:49:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597/61 "2010-02-11T03:07:17Z")

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The one I was refering to was called the Rythm Method. It is a very old practice.

[http://www.contraception.net/resource\_centre/rhythm\_method.asp](http://www.contraception.net/resource_centre/rhythm_method.asp)

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**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597/62 "2010-02-11T12:12:09Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> To be precise about it, the method officially recommended by the Church is not the rhythm method, but something called “natural family planning”. Both are based on the premise of abstaining from sex while the woman is fertile, but they determine that time using different methods. The rhythm method determines fertility just by counting days since last menstruation on a calendar, and is very inaccurate, while natural family planning uses biometrics like body temperature and mucous viscosity, and is significantly more accurate.
> 
> Of course, in either method, couples might reasonably resent abstaining for several days each month, etc.

How more natural is it to say,“Not to night honey I took my temperature(or wait until I take my temperature) and I could get pregnant”; to using something to keep from getting pregnant and bringing children into the world that one is not ready for because they cannot care for a child, financially,emotionally, or physically or already having more children than they can afford?

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**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597/63 "2010-02-12T04:44:46Z")

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> [@monavis](#):
>
> How more natural is it to say,“Not to night honey I took my temperature(or wait until I take my temperature) and I could get pregnant”; to using something to keep from getting pregnant and bringing children into the world that one is not ready for because they cannot care for a child, financially,emotionally, or physically or already having more children than they can afford?

It is outdated but it did help woman at a time when the only other option was having a huge family. That is if hubby went along with it.

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**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597/64 "2010-02-12T12:16:09Z")

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> [@Perciful](#):
>
> It is outdated but it did help woman at a time when the only other option was having a huge family. That is if hubby went along with it.

I know a lot of people who have 8 and 10 children whom it didn’t work for; they also had problems in their marriage and stayed together because they didn’t believe in Divorce. Their children heard the constant fighting and now practice birth control and limited their family to one or 2 children. Some had their tubes tied after the second child was born,or the man had a vasectomy.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-report-abstinence-only-education-works/527597/65 "2010-02-12T22:37:05Z")

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I really intended that as just a nitpick, and don’t intend to argue the point of whether it’s actually “natural”, or whether “natural” is a good thing. But it’s unfair to refer to it as the rhythm method, when it’s actually significantly more effective than rhythm.

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