The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has begun its annual Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week, encouraging married Catholics to embrace an openness to life within their marriages.

“Natural Family Planning: Designed by God, Guided by Love, Open to Life” is the theme of this year's campaign, which has been held annually since 2002.

Natural Family Planning Awareness Week runs until July 25, the anniversary of Pope St Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, according to a USCCB press release. The encyclical reaffirmed the Church's teaching on the moral regulation of births and set out the circumstances in which spouses may licitly space births.

The USCCB describes Natural Family Planning as “an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid conception”.

Unlike artificial barrier methods or hormonal contraceptives, NFP methods “are based on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle”, the bishops explain.

By identifying the fertile and infertile phases of the cycle, couples can decide whether to seek a pregnancy or abstain from sexual relations during that cycle.

“No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy,” the bishops said.

The USCCB also says that, in addition to helping couples achieve or postpone pregnancy, Natural Family Planning offers other benefits for married couples.

“NFP research reveals that married couples who practice a method of NFP reap many spiritual and human benefits such as: improved couple communication; lower divorce rates; and more openness to life,” the bishops said.

“In addition, a woman can gain a deeper knowledge of her reproductive health when charting her fertility,” said the bishops. “This information can be used by physicians to catch root causes of negative issues that may harm a woman's fertility.”