Women prisoners help promote natural family planning

Women inmates at the provincial jail here smile as they string wooden beads used to guide women through their monthly menstrual cycle.

Women inmates give about 300 sets of menstrual cycle beads to the provincial population development committee for distribution

First, they thread a red ball, marking the first day of the menstrual period. They then add six transparent beads to represent a woman´s infertile days and 12 more brown beads representing fertile days.

A succeeding row of seven light beads are then strung to show the woman´s next infertile days followed by a single black bead representing the expected menstrual period. Another row of transparent “infertile day” beads then follows.

Ilocos Norte Provincila Jail inmate Nenalyn Baay, a 32-year-old mother of two, said she had previously benefited from the beads she and her six fellow inmates are now making.

Using the device, she was to keep track of her fertile days so that she and her husband could refrain from sexual intercourse as they wanted to keep the number of their children within their means.

Baay said she started using the Standard Days Method (SDM) of family planning, involving the use of the beads, after feeling irritable and suffering from headaches while taking the contraceptive pill. This method is easier, natural and acceptable to the Church, the Catholic mother said at the jail on June 2.

The Catholic Church allows only natural family planning methods.

Developed by the Institute for Reproductive Health of the Washington-based Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States, SDM is based on a woman having a 12-day “fertile window,” starting the eighth day after menstruation begins.

However, SDM proponents stress the standard applies only to menstrual cycles of 26-32 days, which experts have reportedly determined to be the range of the cycles of 75 percent of women.

Because of this, family and life apostolate workers of Laoag diocese, which serves Ilocos Norte province, do not promote the method, Marchita Singson told UCA News. The head of the diocese´s family and life commission said Church workers encourage Catholics to use only the natural method involving observing a woman´s cervical mucus discharges and other signs of ovulation.

A woman normally experiences “dry and wet seasons” in which the wet season indicates her fertile periods, and during which couples who are avoiding pregnancy must refrain from sexual intercourse, Singson said.

Population Commission (PopCom) Officer Erlinda Ramiro, in a separate interview, said she views her commission´s promotion of the menstrual cycle beads as “respecting the Church´s position” on family planning.

She said the commission takes charge of collecting the beads from the women inmates to distribute for free among families in the province.

Ilocos Norte Population Development Committee pays the women 10 pesos (US$0.20) per string of beads and donates materials for their making.

Baay, who has been detained for the past seven months, said she feels less stress these days as she is making something useful for other women, while earning some money at the same time.

Fellow inmate Lani Ventura said she is also “thankful” to be part of the project as it helps her to be more creative and productive in jail.