A form of natural birth control involving a woman carefully observing her menstrual cycle to determine the time of ovulation. Ovulation indicators may be mittelschmerz, changes in body temperature, changes in the consistency of cervical mucous, and/or spotting.
A method of birth control where sexual intercourse should take place only during the safe periods when conception is least likely to occur, i.e. at the beginning and at the end of the menstrual cycle.
A contraceptive method in which sexual intercourse is restricted to the safe period at the beginning and end of the menstrual cycle. The safe period is calculated either on the basis of the length of the menstrual cycle or by reliance on the change of body temperature that occurs at ovulation. A third possible indicator is the change that occurs with ovulation in the stickiness of the mucus at the neck (cervix) of the womb. The method depends for its reliability on the woman having uniform regular periods and its failure rate is higher than with mechanical methods, approaching 25 pregnancies per 100 woman-years.
A method of contraception which attempts to prevent conception by avoiding intercourse during the fertile part of the menstrual cycle.
In the realm of contraceptive methods, there exists a time-honored approach characterized by its antiquity and a notable tendency towards inefficacy. This method relies on the intermittent abstinence of partners during the period of ovulation. Ovulation, in turn, is forecasted by drawing upon the records of a woman’s preceding menstrual cycle.