I am not entirely sure that Natural Family Planning is a full-fledged "trend" among Protestants. As this article notes, the authors of a popular Protestant book on the subject changed their minds two years ago. But more and more of us feel that medicalized contraception, especially in the form of the Pill, is hardly the way to make the most of the great gift of human sexuality. Yay for my friends the Taylors and Amy Laura Hall (and the other not-yet-friends quoted in the article) for being bold enough to seek an alternative, and talk about it to a reporter.

re: children, family, sex, technology and change, trends

Andy

:

Phaedra Taylor abstained from sex until marriage. But she began researching birth control methods before she was even engaged, and by the time she married David Taylor, she was already charting her fertility.

Taylor, a fresh-faced 28-year-old who would blend in easily with South Austin bohemians, ruled out taking birth control pills after reading a book that claimed the pill could, in some cases, make the uterus uninhabitable after conception occurred. She viewed that as abortion, which she opposes.

“I just wasn’t willing to risk it,” she said.

Taylor wanted her faith to guide her sexual and reproductive decisions after marriage. Natural family planning felt like the best way to honor God, she said.

Update: See David Taylor’s response to the piece on his blog here. “After all these years of trying to get the Statesman to print something about the church and the arts in Austin I now have the honor of having a portion of my sex life on the front page.” You go, David!