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Statement submitted to the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly - Beijing +5, "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century" - 5 - 9, June 2000 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, by the Caucus for the Advancement of the Billings Ovulation Method, C.A.B.O.M.
Mr Chairman and distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, The Caucus for the Advancement of the Billings Ovulation Method, C.A.B.O.M. is grateful for the opportunity of addressing you today. We represent fourteen eco-soc NGO organizations present at the Beijing +5 meetings and speak for 60 affiliates of the World Organization of the Ovulation Method Billings which teach the authentic Billings Method, now in 22 languages carrying the distinctive logo, in over 100 countries around the world.
In the five years since the Beijing Women's Conference the Billings Method has increased acceptance in the two most populous regions in the world, because of such trials carried out in India (CONTRACEPTION: 1996; 53:69-74) and China (In Press). It has provided the greatest success in its use by showing near zero method-related pregnancies in recent studies. Continuation rates remain high in these countries as both Chinese and Indians find the method cost-free and culturally acceptable. The husbands say that they like the method and, " It really works! " The women say that the information is basic for all women and that it keeps all the other "junk " at bay.
On the other side of the coin those European nations that are worried by low population replacement levels are finding that the Billings Method, is helping parents achieve a long awaited pregnancy. It is now considered the primary treatment of infertility, and essential information for those women presenting in a doctor?s office experiencing difficulties in conceiving. Sweden may be cited as an example of such a nation where the population has rallied somewhat, largely due to the work of Professor Erik Odeblad who has been teaching the Billings Method to midwives and students for a number of years in a credit course at the University of Umea..
So what is the Billings Method? Developed by Drs. John and Evelyn Billings of Australia, it is the most simple, natural and effective way in the world of achieving or avoiding pregnancy. In a 1978 five nation study, conducted by the World Health Organizatiion, it was found that 93% of women can return, after just one conversation with an accredited Billings teacher, with a recognizeable chart of the few possibly fertile days and many infertile days in her cycle. With some further instruction in the keeping of a simple chart and in the application of a few commonsense guidelines, she will know on which days an act of intercourse can possibly lead to pregnancy and which one cannot possibly do so, ahead of time. It allows parents to be in total charge of their fertility without the costly complications of the contraceptive /sterilization /abortion package.
The links on our web site: billingsmethod.com that help couples to achieve pregnancy are increasingly the most visited. Most of the "user hits " come from the U.S.A. Many from Asia and unspecified areas of the world, wanting to space their children discover a natural, modern method that is scientific, cost-free and culturally acceptable to all groups, regardless of race, colour, religion or socio-economic background .
I want to quote a few words from Dr. John Billings, about the proven benefits of this method for mothers of families. "It is their right to be told about it. There is now no doubt that the knowledge they acquire from it empowers them as they learn about the physical changes that occur within their bodies. Women in developing nations report that their gift of knowledge of their own fertility enhances their self esteem and status within their relationship and community. Understanding their own cycle gives them deeper insight into their womanhood and the dignity of being a woman. As well as that they will quickly learn to detect the development of abnormalities, so the Method proves to help women preserve gynaecological health. "
Breast feeding women welcome the good news as it provides them with the security to resume sexual intercourse, without the worry of pregnancy, by accurately recording days of infertility while waiting for the return of their normal fertility. Women with irregular cycles learn to understand how they can use the knowledge. Mothers pass the information on to their daughters and parents welcome the knowledge that provides them with a healthy context in which to discuss fertility with their sons........Blind women are able to use the method as can women who have undergone the unnatural practice of female genital mutilation. Even women needing treatment for common vaginal infections can understand how their cycles work.
As Dr. Kevin Hume, Secretary of WOOMB International, stated in his address to the Plenary Session of the Beijing Women?s conference five years ago, "Governments of over 100 nations appreciate the method as it provides them with the lowest cost policy option for fertility planning. There is no longer the need to resort to involuntary sterilization programs. Its widespread appeal removes the need for an agenda of coercive and unpopular child spacing. It appeals to women on both sides of the abortion issue. "
A very great advantage of the BOM is that it fosters communication and understanding between the man and the woman, develops cooperation between them and a sharing of this important matter of their children. In all these ways it improves their relationship, helping them to grow in love and fidelity to each other. In this way it helps to protect them against the widespread epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases which cause so much infertility and other complications in virtually all the countries of the world. This protection is also afforded against AIDS, against which the only certain protection is the preservation of monogamous sexual relationship.
Suffice it to say that a healthy mother is vital for the health of the whole family, the basic unit of a healthy society leading to healthy, sustainable economic development and peace.
I would like to repeat what I said at Cairo +5 UNGASS last year. The time is ripe for the World Health Organization to follow-up on the successful findings of its study of 1978 by shifting the emphasis from new forms of contraception, resulting in more abortion and more expense and misery for women and families, back to the mother of all education, Nature, which has provided us with such good timely knowledge. Even Dr. Nafis Sadik, before a room jam packed with NGOs in the March Prepcom meeting of last year, acknowledged that the Billings Ovulation Method should be a "choice" for women. Unhappily family doctors, for example in Canada, still do not give women the option to learn this natural method. It is time to hold them accountable.
To quote the senior risk management partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, my husband, Justin Fryer, "When we are blessed with a method like this why are we not taking advantage of it? With all the resources available to the World Health Organization is it not time to apply them to take advantage for the benefit of the whole world? The advantages are: non-political, non religious, non commercial and above all, acceptable to all. Need we look further? The answer is sitting on our doorstep all the time! " Let us all accept the challenge of teaching every woman in the world how to understand her cycle by, say, a target date of 2010!
Susan Fryer, UN NGO delegate representing WOOMB International