The Nonviolent Choice Directory wants to serve people of all religions and none who seek voluntary pregnancy prevention (or achievement) through whatever means are safe, effective, and compatible with their own beliefs and preferences. Our pages on Male Responsibility and Sexual/Reproductive Health Education can also help with pregnancy planning. If you are currently facing, or suspect you might be facing, an unintended pregnancy, you may want to visit our special section on Help With Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond: An Overview.
Much research is still necessary to help family planning methods become foolproof. Sometimes no matter how carefully a method is used, it doesn't work for its intended purpose. But even now there are so many largely effective ways to minimize your chances of conceiving a baby, when... that is your choice, when it is a well-informed choice, and one that you exercise with care and diligence at all times. And one reason that equality is so important in male-female relationships is that family planning is most likely to work as intended in a genuinely equal relationship. Sobering statistic: without using any method at all, the average couple has a very high--85%--chance of starting a pregnancy and a baby.
Just as strongly, we advocate prevention and treatment of rape and incest to empower people with the right of voluntary family planning.
Rape & Incest Treatment & Prevention
General Guides to Voluntary Family Planning
Issues of Special Concern in Voluntary Family Planning:
Abstinence
Breastfeeding
Contraceptive Success: How to Boost Your Odds
Disabilities and Health Conditions
Emergency Contraception
Fertility Awareness & Natural Family Planning Methods
LGBTQ (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered-Questioning) Sexuality
"Male Methods"
Outercourse & Oral Sex
Safer Sex in General
Sexual Assertiveness Skills
Protest Coercion in Family Planning
Where to Get Family Planning & Safer Sex Items
Rape & Incest Treatment & Prevention
Forced sex can directly lead to unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Also, for some people an aftereffect of sexual trauma, especially when it goes unhealed, is engaging in risky, unprotected sexual behavior, perhaps with abusive or neglectful partners. And when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, whether or not from voluntary sex with a loved partner, survivors sometimes do not feel they are "good enough" or capable enough to make parenting or adoption choices. For example, they may believe the unfortunate and crippling stereotype that "abused children automatically, inevitably grow up to be child abusers." And so they go through the further trauma of abortion. These are among the many, many reasons why treatment and prevention of rape and incest are so crucial to human life and wellbeing.
Abuse & Disability Resources. Disabled children, youth, and adults are all at heightened risk of abuse, including sexual abuse.
Emergency Contraception Website. (English, Arabic, French, Spanish.) Global in scope. Where to get emergency contraception, and scientifically accurate information about it, including the evidence that it prevents conception rather than causing early abortion.
Family Violence Prevention Fund's kNOw MORE Campaign. "This project, this website, is about telling our stories, finding a common language, sharing the truth. Read about women with stories to tell, and tell yours. Learn about the reproductive health consequences of violence and sexual coercion. Say 'no more' to reproductive coercion. Know more about how to stop it. Say more to anyone and everyone who will listen." Reproductive coercion includes forced sex, sabotage of a women's wish to use contraception, battery before, during, and after pregnancy, and forced abortion.
(For Loved Ones of Sexual Assault/Abuse Survivors.) Secondary Survivors. From Advocates for Youth.
Healing From Abuse. From Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). SNAP's wisdom on life after abuse is directed to those whose abusers were Roman Catholic religious authorities. However, some of this information, such as the advice on choosing a psychotherapist, may benefit anyone who is trying to live and thrive after sexual abuse.
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. US-based "movement to end violence against women of color and our communities through direct action, critical dialogue, and grassroots organizing."
International Rape Crisis Resources. Hotlines, crisis centers, legal and mental health help.
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. (Mostly English; some French, Russian, & Spanish publications.) Mission: "To prevent cruelty to children in every nation, in every form: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, street children, child fatalities, child prostitution, children of war, emotional abuse and child labor. ISPCAN is committed to increasing public awareness of all forms of violence against children, developing activities to prevent such violence, and promoting the rights of children in all regions of the world. ISPCAN invites you to join forces with its members around the world to protect children in need: their bodies, minds, hearts and rights." Click here for links to national member societies in Australia, Belarus, Benin, Cameroon, Colombia, Congo (Kinshasa), Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nordic Region, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, UK, and the US.
Men Can Stop Rape. (English; some Spanish resources.) US-based, but works and networks internationally.
Prevention Tips for All of Us. Prevent Child Abuse America can help everyone be alert to the neglect and mistreatment of children, including sexual abuse.
Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (US). Runs the National Sexual Assault Hotline (phone, 1.800.656.HOPE) and the Online Hotline. Can help you find a Local Rape Crisis Center (US).
Report Child Abuse: Australian Childhood Foundation/a>; Childline South Africa, national hotline on 0800 055 555; Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-4-A-CHILD (24 hours a day, 7 days a week; covers the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands); Find Help With a Personal Situation, from Child Welfare Information Gateway (US).
Stigma, Inc.. "OUR MISSION STATEMENT: To provide a network among the global community of individuals conceived by rape and incest; to provide support for women who have ever been pregnant by the heinous act of rape, and for mothers, adoptive families, and others who are raising a child conceived in this fashion; and to increase the general awareness of the issues of rape and incest conception to the general public, encouraging information and exchange to defeat stereotypes and increase knowledge about such issues."
What to Do if You're Raped. (English, Spanish.) From the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Women for Women International: Crisis in the Congo: War Against Women.. Millions of people have been killed and displaced because of the longtime civil war raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Untold numbers of Congolese women have suffered rape, which as in so many other conflicts worlwide has been deployed as a systematic weapon of war. In Congo and other war-ravaged countries such as Iraq and Bosnia, Women for Women International helps survivors of rape and other victims of war rebuild their lives. Please visit to see how you can, for less than a dollar a day, help a survivor heal. And if you are in the US, please write your Congresspeople to call for greater rape prevention and treatment for women in Congo, and for assistance of women who now face the prospect of raising children conceived though rape.
Worldwide Ages of Consent. Are you and/or your partner old enough to legally consent to sex? Find out what the law says in your country. From the sex education pages at AVERT.
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General Guides to Voluntary Family Planning
Birth Control Methods: How Well Do They Work?. (English, Spanish.) From TeensHealth.
EngenderHealth: Family Planning. Oriented to health care workers, especially in the Two-Thirds World. Covers informed consent, as well as integration of family planning with HIV/AIDS services.
Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers. (Current availability: Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili.) "Published by the INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This handbook, one of the World Health Organization's Family Planning Cornerstones, provides evidence-based guidance developed through worldwide collaboration. It offers clinic-based health care professionals in developing countries the latest guidance on providing contraceptive methods." Now available in print and online in English; translations planned into at least 10 other languages. Make a Ten-Dollar Bill Go Farther Than You Ever Imagined--and Save Lives While You're at It! $10 will pay for one print copy of the handbook for a health care worker in the Two Thirds World. To give, please click here. Appendix A of the Handbook has a chart comparing the effectiveness of different family planning methods.
ReproLine (Reproductive Health Online): Family Planning. (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian.) Oriented to health care educators and other professionals. But this information is here for anyone who wants it, presented in five widely used languages and often applicable to "low-resource" (materially poorer) settings.
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Issues of Special Concern in Voluntary Family Planning
Abstinence
Abstinence. (English, Spanish.) From TeensHealth.
Age of Consent and Casual Sex. From the HIV/AIDS charity AVERT/
ETR Associates: Abstinence. (English, some Spanish). Selection of abstinence pamphlets from a "comprehensive" sex ed approach. Free online views available; free print samples may be available. From the catalog of a leading nonprofit publisher of health education brochures, booklets, and other materials.
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Breastfeeding
Family Planning for the Breastfeeding Woman. Guide from the World Association for Breastfeeding Action.
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Contraceptive Success: How to Boost Your Odds
Tips for Contraceptive Success. No method of birth control is 100% effective (not yet!), but there's a lot you can do in the meantime to boost your odds of preventing unintended pregnancy. Especially since user error is the number one cause when contraceptives don't work!
The Buddy System: Effectiveness Rates for Backing Up Your Birth Control With a Second Method. Excellent article from Scarleteen.com, a generally wonderful sex ed resource. (And there are also ways to *triple up* on contraception...just use your imagination, that's what it's for...)
Many Clients Need Dual Protection. "Dual protection" or "double Dutch" is what health workers call a variant on the "buddy system" that's popular in Holland. It is a combination of the pill with male condoms to prevent both sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. No wonder the Dutch abortion rate is so comparatively low. From Family Health International. Oriented to health workers (but if you're not one, you can still read it!)
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Disabilities and Health Conditions
Center for Research on Women With Disabilities, Baylor University College of Medicine. (English, some Spanish.) Identifies barriers to health education and care, including sexual/reproductive health education and care, for women with disabilities. Creates solutions to these problems. Has a reproductive health teaching module online for women with disabilities. However, the unit on contraception is mostly limited to women with mobility impairments, when there are other forms of disability that affect birth control options.
PocketGuide for Family Planning Service Providers: Medical Problems. (English, French.) Chapter from a ReproLine booklet. Summarizes which family planning methods are medically advisable and which aren't for women with a wide array of medical conditions.
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Emergency Contraception
Emergency Contraception Website. (English, Arabic, French, Spanish.) Global in scope. Where to get emergency contraception, and scientifically accurate information about it, including the evidence that it prevents conception rather than causing early abortion.
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Fertility Awareness & Natural Family Planning Methods
CycleBeads: Plan or Prevent Pregnancy Naturally. (English, Spanish.) CycleBeads? A "visual tool that helps a woman with regular cycles between 26 and 32 days long to keep track of the days of her cycle and know when she is likely to get pregnant if she has unprotected intercourse." Based on the Standard Days Method of family planning, developed by Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health and shown in clinical trials in three countries--Bolivia, Peru, and the Philippines--to have a 95% effectiveness rate. The Nonviolent Choice Directory offers Cycle Beads through our Mall.
Garden of Fertility. (English-language, with a "Test Your Fertility IQ" in both English & Spanish.) Outgrowth of a book by fertility awareness educator Katie Singer. Modern methods of fertility awareness/natural family planning can rival and even equal the pill in effectiveness at pregnancy prevention, with many other possible benefits besides. A treasure trove for anyone (even women with irregular cycles) who want to learn about these methods, and for anyone interested in teaching what they learn. Helpful for people of any or no religious beliefs. The Nonviolent Choice Directory offers The Garden of Fertility through our Mall.
LAM, the Lactational Amenorrhea Method. Learn about this scientifically based, effective (as high as 98-99%) way to prevent unplanned pregnancies through prolonged breastfeeding. From the World Association for Breastfeeding Action.
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LGBTQ (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered-Questioning) Sexuality
The Nonviolent Choice Directory offers safer sex (and where applicable, contraceptive) items through our Mall.
Al-Fatiha Foundation. US-based charity "dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, those exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity, and their allies, families and friends. Al-Fatiha promotes the progressive Islamic notions of peace, equality and justice. We envision a world that is free from prejudice, injustice and discrimination, where all people are fully embraced and accepted into their faith, their families and their communities."
Befrienders Worldwide: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Resources. Are you lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or perhaps unsure about your orientation or gender identity? Discrimination against people like you can make life feel unbearable and lead to suicidal feelings, and/or the taking self-destructive risks in your sexual and other behaviors. But you have as much right to live, be, and love as anybody else. Befrienders, which works all over the world to help suicidal people and their loved ones, has gathered these resources to help you find peace and acceptance.
Family Acceptance Project. (English; some Spanish.) Research and education effort concerning the positive effects of family love and acceptance on LGBT youth, including the prevention of suicide and unprotected sex.
GLBTQ Issues. From Adocates for Youth.
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Mission: "To secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV status."
National Black Justice Coalition (US). "A civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black same-gender-loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The Coalition works with our communities and our allies for social justice, equality, and an end to racism and homophobia."
National Youth Advocacy Coalition (US). "A social justice organization that advocates for and with young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well being."
What the Science Says--and Doesn't Say--About Homosexuality. New resource from Soulforce, a nonviolent fighter (and one friendly to those of all faiths and none) for the rights of LGBTQ people. "Many people are curious about what current, reputable social-science research indicates about lesbian women, gay men, and their families. This 36-page booklet contains research-based answers to ten of the most commonly asked questions, drawing on the findings of over forty years of social-science research. It also highlights specific examples of how religious and political leaders distort the scientific research to support anti-gay campaigns. Order several copies of this affordable resource for family and friends." The booklet is available online for free or can be ordered in print. We are proud to say that the Nonviolent Choice Directory is listed in the acknowledgments!
Note: Cecilia Brown, current president of PLAGAL, the Pro Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, often underscores the link between a homophobic culture and the incidence of crisis pregnancies and abortion among LGBTQ youth. She knows from, among other quite compelling sources, her own difficult experiences as a young woman, which she retells in the book ProLife Feminism Yesterday and Today. She also addresses this issue in the Nonviolent Choice Blog. LGBTphobia is an underrecognized cause of abortion. Take Heed, Prolife Movement!
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"Male Methods"
Condom. (English, many other languages starting with Arabic.) A mini-encyclopedia itself on the world's favorite male contraceptive and disease preventor. See also How to Put on A Condom from Teen Health, Nova Scotia, Canada. Reproductive health counselor Dawn Stacey can advise on How to Prevent Condom Failure. She also tells How to Respond to Men's Excuses for Not Wanting to Wear a Condom (don't miss LAMom's comment on an offer most men wouldn't turn down!)
Please note: The Nonviolent Choice Directory offers latex, vegan-friendly latex, latexfree, male, and female condoms through our Mall.
EngenderHealth: Men As Partners. Much-needed initiative in over 15 countries. Started because "around the world, women carry disproportionate responsibility for reproductive health and family size. And while women receive the bulk of reproductive health education, including family planning information, gender dynamics can render women powerless to make decisions. Men often hold decision-making power over matters as basic as sexual relations and when and whether to have a child or even seek health care. But most reproductive health programs focus exclusively on women. EngenderHealth recognizes the importance of partnership between women and men, as well as the crucial need to reach out to men with services and education that enable them to share in the responsibility for reproductive health." Well spoken.
MaleContraceptives.org Nonprofit that tracks, publicizes, and promotes research on "male methods" beyond condoms and vasectomies.
Male Responsibility. Still more resources on the subject, right here in the Nonviolent Choice Directory.
Vasectomy: What to Expect. (English, Spanish.) Online brochure for men & their loved ones considering what this relatively safe and simple method of permanent birth control involves. From the American Academy of Family Physicians.
VasectomyMedical.com (Based in Canada & oriented to the US & Canada.) Appears to be chiefly a commercial site for physicians to offer their services. However, it does have, all in one convenient place, descriptions (and in some cases other media) of conventional and no-scalpel vasectomy procedures, as well as vasectomy reversal. Also a page on the decision many couples face between vasectomy and tubal ligation (though not surprisingly it tips matters in favor of vasectomy, but it appears something in addition to a purely commercial motive is involved here).
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Outercourse & Oral Sex
Note: Outercourse means ways of experiencing sexual pleasure with your partner that leave out the only kind of sex that can lead to conception, namely penis-vagina intercourse. Some definitions of outercourse include oral sex; others do not. Outercourse can be 100% effective in preventing pregnancy if both partners are committed to (1) completely avoiding penis-vagina intercourse while enjoying other forms of sexual pleasure and (2)keeping all pre-ejaculate and ejaculatory fluids (pre-cum and cum) away from the vagina. Depending on how it is done, outercourse can also protect against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Please learn about safer oral sex in this section, and about all forms of *safer sex* in the next section of this page. Please note that we offer family planning & safer sex items in our Mall.
Oral Sex & HIV. From The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource (English, Spanish). The risk is low compared to other exchanges of body fluids, but it's real. So please learn how to protect yourself and your partner.
Great Sex Without Intercourse. (Has explicit illustrations.) (English; also in Dutch, French, and Russian. Practical tips, with a human tone. From NVSH, the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform. (The Nonviolent Choice Directory does not agree with every stance of this organization, especially its view of feminism as somehow antisex, and its abortion rights stance. But we recommend this page.)
YouthHealthNE (Ireland): Sexual Health: Contraception: Outercourse. From Ireland's North Eastern Health Board/Bord Slainte An Oir Thuaiscirt.
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Safer Sex in General
National HIV and STD Testing Resources (US). From the US federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Learn more about HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and other diseases transmitted through unprotected sex. Find a testing center near you.
Safer Sex Methods. Regularly reviewed and updated guide from HIV Insite, one of the Internet's most helpful and extensive resources on HIV/AIDS. Another good and maybe more user-friendly resource on safer sex and HIV/AIDS is HIV Prevention & Testing, from The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource (English, Spanish). The Nonviolent Choice Directory offers safer sex items (as well as family planning products) through this website.
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Sexual Assertiveness Skills
Assertiveness. A large number of selections from the Virtual Pamphlet Collection at the University of Chicago counseling center. Applies to both nonsexual and sexual situations.
Is Lack of Sexual Assertiveness Among Adolescent And Young Adult Women a Cause for Concern? Published, peer-reviewed scientific study that illuminates, in one context, a worldwide problem that thwarts women's abilities to have or not have sex and what kind of sex, to plan pregnancy and avoid abortion, & prevent HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections, and a lotta-lotta other kinds of heartache. Understanding where young women & their partners are now and what they are grappling with is the first step to empowering solutions.
Sexual Assertiveness Questionnaire & Date Rape Prevention. Another pamphlet from a college counseling service, this time the State University of New York (SUNY)-Buffalo.
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Protest Coercion in Family Planning
Amnesty International-USA: Women's Rights, Stop Violence Against Women Campaign. Women all over the world are subjected to gender-based violence--one in three, according to some global studies of both the industrialized & the Two-Thirds worlds. Violence against women is a major human rights abuse that urgently needs more voices of protest. Here you can sign up for action alerts. Fortunately Amnesty challenges coerced birth control and forced abortion as human rights violations, as instances of violence against women. Unfortunately it is, against the wishes of both prolife and prochoice members, moving away from its long-standing and wise neutrality on abortion; for more information and some action steps you can take, click here.
Are You Kidding? Tubal Ligation Procedures Denied to Young Women Who Don't Want Children. From American Sexuality Magazine. In the US? Please contact your elected officials and urge them to do something (1) to counter these denials of abortion-reducing reproductive choice and (2) make sure that all women, of all ages, who have made their thoughtful, carefully considered decisions for permanent sterilization can afford that choice, whatever insurance coverage they do or do not have.
Birth Control Watch: Contraception Without Exception (US). Most people in the US, including most who identify as prolife on abortion, believe that family planning should be legal and available to all who wish it. Yet an organized effort threatens the right to contracept as one chooses. Birth Control Watch not only offers a succinct overview of the problem, it helps visitors easily become part of the solution, especially through its "2-Minute Activist" section. A must for both prolife and prochoice Americans who agree that freedom of conscience in prevention is both a vital personal liberty and an essential means of reducing abortion. Unfortunately it will be on hiatus until fall 2010.
European Roma Rights Centre. (English, Romani, Russian; occasionally other languages.) International public-interest law firm advocating for the rights of Europe's poorest ethnic minority. The Nazis systematically targeted the Roma for reproductive offenses and killing, and the bigotry didn't all go away with the Third Reich. The ERRC challenges sterilization abuse, among other human rights violations.
Kenneth Newman Says. Reprint from the rockin' good disability rights magazine Mouth. Sterilization abuse--sterilization against a person's own will--is a widespread and ongoing crime against humanity. It has been, and still is, inflicted on women and men who are poor, of color, and/or have disabilities. The story of Kenneth Newman and his wife Shirley--"my lovely wife," as he calls her. They were dislabelled and institutionalized from youth, then discouraged from having a relationship with each other and forcibly sterilized.
Tibetan Women's Association. Advocates for the rights of women inside Tibet itself and in exile. This means TWA concerns itself a great deal with women who have suffered reproductive rights abuses, including coerced contraception and, even worse, abortion. While voluntary family planning is compatible with Tibetan Buddhist beliefs, coerced birth control is deemed unjust, and abortion is generally opposed as a taking of a vulnerable human life. The Chinese occupation uses these horrific human rights violations to implement its "one-child" policy of involuntary population control, and to genocide the Tibetan people. This website gives many ways you can stand in solidarity with Tibetans.
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Where to Get Family Planning & Safer Sex Items
We at the Nonviolent Choice Directory offer a selection of nonprescription family planning & safer sex items through our Mall. Thank you for visiting!
Family Planning Database. Title X makes birth control services available for low-income women and men in the 50 US states, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Virgin Islands. Here you can find out which Title X clinics offer family planning services in your area.
UNFPA. (English, Spanish, French, Arabic.) UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is active worldwide "to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect." (It does not promote abortion or forced birth control; it helps to prevent these.) This page can help lead you to information about reproductive health care needs and services, including family planning, in your country or region of the world.
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Copyright Nonviolent Choice Directory 2007-2009. All rights reserved. This page last updated October 10, 2009.
