Periodic continence is “the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods”. These methods “respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom”. Where there are “well-grounded reasons for spacing births”, Paul VI taught that married people “may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system”. The couple “are ready to abstain from intercourse during the fertile period as often as for reasonable motives the birth of another child is not desirable”.
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