This week, Catholic and other pro-life leaders have decried President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding IVF access, as a whopping 93% of embryos created are frozen indefinitely or destroyed.

While the Church speaks with absolute clarity about the moral reasons for forbidding contraception, abortion, sterilization and IVF, many people, even faithful Catholics, don’t yet understand there are ethically sound and medically superior alternatives for women who suffer from reproductive health issues like infertility, polycystic ovaries, painful periods, recurrent miscarriage and more.

Spoiler alert: Whereas conventional medicine treats only the symptoms, the Church-approved way works toward true, life-giving healing.

I’ve assembled a panel of experts to help women and married couples navigate these issues with clarity, confidence and conformity to Church teaching. 

Dr. Teresa Hilgers of the St. Paul VI Institute, NaPro fertility surgeon Dr. Blaise Milburn, and Catholic medical consultant Laura Ducote, a nurse practitioner, joined me for two episodes of The Catholic Sphere to discuss:

• What the Catholic Church Does and Doesn’t Say About Women’s Health: streaming at EWTN.com/ondemand or on the free EWTN mobile app.
• PMS, PCOS, IVF, NFP, ETC.! Finding Root Causes of Female Reproductive Health Issues: premiering at 11 a.m. ET, Thursday, Feb. 27; available later on EWTN.com/ondemand or on the free EWTN mobile app.

When St. Paul VI gave us the encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968, many people inside and outside the Church thought he was going to change the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion, contraception and sterilization.

Instead, he reaffirmed the dignity of the human person and purpose and sanctity of marriage and unwavering opposition to contraception. Few people realize that, through his call to arms for scientists and doctors (Nos. 24 and 27), he also laid the groundwork for huge medical advances that are better for women.

Two of the most notable medical advances were developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers (the father of the aforementioned Dr. Teresa Hilgers): the Creighton method of natural family planning (NFP) and Natural Procreative Technology, or NaPro. 

In these two episodes of The Catholic Sphere, my panelists share how these types of treatments (referred to as “restorative medicine”) are not only viable options for Catholics needing health care, but they also are superior to conventional medicine’s offerings.

For decades, women presenting with various gynecological issues have been prescribed birth control, which merely treats the symptoms and leaves women with a number of undesirable side effects. Meanwhile, the underlying causes fester, and women are robbed of so much: potential children, quality of life and overall health.

Hear how Hilgers watched her father teach women to chart their fertility markers and how he noticed that women presenting with similar symptoms had similar cycle charts. Several types of NFP now exist to help women and doctors assess and treat problems.

Milburn clarifies that “unexplained infertility” is not an official diagnosis, but a sign of an underlying issue; and his NaPro training and robotic surgery experience equip him with the tools and skills to treat polycystic ovaries, pelvic pain, abnormal uterine bleeding, and all sorts of pathologies. As someone who started his career in conventional medicine, he quickly realized that the mainstream treatments simply aren’t as effective as restorative medicine.

And Ducote dives deeper into the precision and effectiveness of NFP, not just for couples who are trying to avoid or achieve pregnancy, but also for women of all ages who want to understand their bodies better, as NFP gives insight on hormonal imbalances and nutritional deficiencies and can point doctors toward solutions.

My panel reassures viewers: As long as you seek care from NaPro trained practitioners (especially those from the St. Paul VI Institute), the life-affirming care you receive won’t violate your Catholic faith and won’t leave you with subpar care. 

Viewers who tune in for the second episode will get a “deep dive” into specific symptoms and diseases that many women experience, like PMS, PCOS, painful periods, etc. For example, believe it or not, heavy bleeding and excruciating pain during periods, though “typical,” are huge red flags! Hilgers points out that, as a general rule, if period cramps are debilitating and cause you to “nearly overdose on pain medicine,” that’s a problem. She goes on to suggest that many of the symptoms we’re told are “normal” for menstruation are problematic. 

Milburn goes in depth on endometriosis and how its metastatic growth causes widespread inflammation and a host of problems in the pelvis and abdomen. He explains how to diagnose and treat endometriosis with NaPro and how women can discuss symptoms with their doctors. 

And Ducote shares how, although IVF might seem to be a noble option to overcoming infertility, the entire process preys on couples and is harmful to a woman’s body and the embryos; pumping a woman’s body full of synthetic hormones while ignoring the undiagnosed disease causes more problems, as well.

There’s a lot covered in these episodes, all invaluable to women everywhere — so tune in to The Catholic Sphere and encourage your female friends and family to do the same.