Why Is Natural Cycles Promoting Abortion To Pregnant Women?

A dear friend of mine recently found out the joyous news that she and her husband are pregnant. Like many women who want to avoid the negative health effects and/or potential abortifacient nature of hormonal contraceptives, she used the fertility tracking app Natural Cycles to avoid pregnancy until she and her husband decided to stop not trying.

Once those double blue lines showed up, she went to log the good news in the app, which is chiefly advertised as a contraceptive but also provides “pregnancy planning” and “pregnancy tracking” modes. Instead of “congratulations,” NC greeted her with this unsettling message: “What happens now? Everyone’s situation is different, but no matter how you’re feeling, you’ve still got options.”

The app prompted her to click on a five-page “guide” on “unintended pregnancy.” (My friend’s pregnancy wasn’t “unintended,” but she hadn’t yet switched her app settings out of “birth control” mode.)

“Depending on your circumstances, and what you want to do, there are options available, including parenting, termination, and adoption,” the guide says. “Whatever you decide to do there is no right or wrong.”

“If you live in the US and are considering termination, you can visit the Planned Parenthood website to learn more about abortion access,” it continues.

The word “baby” never appears. (If you signal to the app that your pregnancy is wanted, however, you’ll see the term “unborn baby” in its “follow pregnancy” mode.)

Downplaying Abortion as ‘Quick,’ ‘Safe,’ and ‘Delicate’

Natural Cycles bills itself as “an FDA Cleared, non-hormonal, non-invasive way to take control of your fertility.” Women use a special thermometer to track their basal body temperature every morning, and for $119.99 per year, the app’s algorithm tracks their fertile window each month. Its rise in popularity has coincided with a departure from hormonal birth control by women who are sick of a “reproductive health” industry that is neither pro-health nor pro-reproduction. Instagram ads for the app, which show happy, sexy women embracing their fertility, would be at home in Evie Magazine.

Lots of women use Natural Cycles because it promotes getting in tune with their bodies’ natural design, instead of artificially suppressing it. It doesn’t increase the risks of certain cancers, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular complications, and depression that come with hormonal birth control. And it doesn’t involve any abortifacient drugs, unlike some contraceptives.

That’s why it’s so disappointing that Natural Cycles would promote abortion, which is even worse for women, their bodies, and (obviously) their unborn babies than the damaging contraceptives that Natural Cycles users are presumably trying to avoid.

The company even lists a “What is Abortion?” explainer among the blog posts it offers on the app and on its website. There, again, it refers women to Planned Parenthood — and even includes a link to Planned Parenthood’s “book an appointment” landing page.

The article downplays “terminating a pregnancy” as “relatively quick” and “incredibly safe.” Again, the word “baby” is never mentioned. After a lengthy discussion of abortion pills, it provides this summary of “in-clinic” abortions:

The “delicate suction process” described so euphemistically in the first paragraph involves literally vacuuming the baby’s body parts out of a mother’s womb. The second option, the most common late-term abortion method, involves using forceps to dismember the unborn baby and take him out of her womb in pieces. So much for Natural Cycles’ “non-invasive” talking point!

You’ll also find materials on Natural Cycles’ website titled “How does emergency birth control work?” and “How many times can you take Plan B?” — the latter of which directs women to their local Planned Parenthood.

In a guide explaining to women “How to enter that you are no longer pregnant” on the app, a link offers more information if a woman has “experienced an abortion,” as if an abortion spontaneously happens to an unconsenting woman like a miscarriage.

The ‘Sad Truth’

More women are rejecting hormonal contraceptives because pharmaceutical companies treat their fertility — and the babies that women’s cycles are naturally designed to produce — as an illness to be treated. Of course pregnancy is intimidating, and it’s reasonable to expect women who are using an app to avoid it might be fearful or upset. But every pregnancy is also worth celebrating because it involves the creation of a new human life. And the last thing women who are alarmed about an unplanned pregnancy need is someone else reinforcing the harmful narrative that pregnancy is something to be afraid of.

Here’s a sample of the message Natural Cycles’ “unintended pregnancy guide” sends to newly pregnant women:

“This can feel like a very lonely time…”

“This can be tough…”

“The future can feel daunting…”

“This can be a difficult time…”

“Disbelief, anger and surprise are all normal emotions to feel…”

Of course, many women who aren’t expecting a positive pregnancy test do experience all those feelings. It’s compassionate to meet women and their emotions where they’re at. But not once does Natural Cycles balance its we-understand-this-is-the-worst-thing-to-ever-happen-to-you attitude with Hey, this might not be what you were expecting, but your baby is worth celebrating, and you can do this!

Instead, it apologetically admits “the sad truth is that any sexually active woman is always at risk of pregnancy.”

The sad truth? That’s how human sexuality is designed, guys! You’re not actually pro-woman or body-positive if you think the procreative nature of sex and a woman’s natural ability to bear children are a “sad truth.”

Alternatives to hormonal contraceptives are appealing because they recognize a woman’s cycle is an amazing, intricate design to be understood, not suppressed with synthetic hormones. But treating the biological fact that sex creates babies as a bad thing sends women the same message that pumping them with carcinogenic pills and abortion drugs does.

There’s a huge market for a hormone-free alternative like Natural Cycles among pro-life women who want to avoid the anti-birth industry and its risks to their health. For Natural Cycles to shove abortion propaganda in their faces isn’t just bad business, it’s also insulting.

By promoting abortion, Natural Cycles is buying into the same lie as the pharmaceutical contraceptive industry: that women’s bodies and their potential for baby production are a problem. Even worse, it’s ensuring that one of the first reactions an expecting mother receives about her new baby is “here’s how to get rid of it.”

Every baby and every pregnancy deserves to be celebrated. The sad truth is that Natural Cycles doesn’t see it that way.

Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women’s Forum. She received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.