Dear Mother Jones:

We, members of the Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals (AFAP), were frustrated by the distorted picture of Fertility Awareness and Fertility Awareness Based Methods of contraception (FABMs) presented by Kiera Butler in Mother Jones (September 30, 2022).

Although Butler spoke with several of our members, there is almost no mention of the dedicated secular, pro-choice health professionals and organizations around the world that promote evidence-based Fertility Awareness education. Rather, Butler paints all cycle-tracking methods of contraception as ineffective and casts aspersions on the entire field of Fertility Awareness by focusing mainly on anti-choice religious organizations, as well as deeply flawed politicians, social media influencers, and tech companies who promote narrow or truncated versions of Fertility Awareness.

It is important to alert readers to organizations and health professionals who are steering people away from hormonal birth control to further their own religious and anti-abortion agendas. However, by portraying education and advocacy of Fertility Awareness education as sinister tools in the conservative right’s arsenal, Butler also is being disingenuous and misleading.

In fact, observation-based sympto-thermal methods of Fertility Awareness can be a highly effective method of birth control when learned thoroughly and practiced correctly. The article does not recognize this distinction and instead gives the impression that all FABMs have relatively low and questionable effectiveness.  This does a serious disservice to those who expect professional reporting about reproductive health options. Butler glosses over the biggest culprit in the conundrum of how to manage our fertility: the pervasive ignorance about how our bodies and the menstrual cycle actually work.

AFAP represents certified educators in 17 countries who teach body literacy and evidence-based, observational sympto-thermal methods of fertility awareness from a secular perspective. We envision a world in which all people have the knowledge and power to make informed choices around their fertility, sexuality, and reproductive health, and have access to healthcare providers who support their decision-making. We hold, as a fundamental principle, that abortion is a human right and an essential component of healthcare.

We hope that in the future, progressive outlets like Mother Jones can provide more thorough, objective, and accurate information about Fertility Awareness and the people who advocate for and practice it.

The Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals