It's All in the Timing: Coital Frequency and Fertility Awareness-Based Methods of Family Planning

Victoria Jennings, Georgetown University
Irit Sinai, Georgetown University

Contrary to popular belief, users of fertility awareness-based methods of family planning have intercourse as frequently as users of other family planning methods. This finding is based on coital logs used in efficacy studies of two fertility awareness-based methods -- the Standard Days Method and the TwoDay Method. Both methods help women identify the days each cycle when they are most likely to get pregnant. If couples wish to prevent pregnancy they should avoid unprotected intercourse on these days. We found that couples do not have less sex, they just time it differently. We also examined strategies employed by users to cope with the requirement of having no unprotected intercourse during the fertile period.