Oh, for lots of reasons. Here in the USA, we live in a capitalist society with a profit-driven health care system, and there is very little money to be made from Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABM). Once you have obtained the knowledge, there are few additional costs. You might use barrier methods during your fertile times or for protection against sexually transmitted infections. You might buy a wifi enabled thermometer, or pay for an app, but you don’t have to. Even if you do, compare those modest costs to the astronomical profits made from the sale of hormonal birth control, and you can see why no one is pushing this method on you at your doctor’s office, and why you don’t see ads for Fertility Awareness in women’s magazines or on television. Not only do FABM not make money for the medical industry, they actively take profit away from it.
Even if your doctor’s office wanted to offer Fertility Awareness, how could they possibly teach it to you? It can take several hours of instruction to learn sympto-thermal FA, over a span of a few months. How much time does your doctor typically spend with you when you visit? Moreover, most doctors are unfamiliar with Fertility Awareness, or think that it is an uninformed and irresponsible choice. Incredibly, healthcare practitioners (and the media) still incorrectly associate FA with the Rhythm Method. FABM are not taught in medical school, not even as an aid to pregnancy achievement. Between their lack of information and their lack of time, it’s no wonder that most doctors never mention FABM to their patients, or discourage patients from pursuing them.
Additionally, we live in a very repressed culture that does not encourage us to know much about our bodies or to share that knowledge with others. We have superficial and unrealistic concepts of sex, sexuality, and even biology. Sexualized images of breasts and butts are everywhere we look, but there is still deep shame about menstrual blood, and women can be criticized for nursing their children in public, as if the natural function of breasts, the function they are made for, is somehow immodest or shameful. Most of us do not get to have good conversations with our parents about our bodies and we do not receive accurate, unbiased information in our schools. We trust doctors to take care of our bodies for us and think that we can’t take care of natural functions like birth and family planning without them.
FA requires us to deal openly and honestly with the functioning of our bodies. In return, it gives us information about our health, and gives women (and others who cycle) who engage in heterosexual activity the power to manage their fertility. Most people find that acquiring Fertility Awareness is a revelation, and are amazed (and often angry) that no one had given them this basic information before. Regardless of whether you choose to use an FABM to prevent or achieve pregnancy, it is your right to know how your body works.