Roman Catholic Church-sponsored natural family planning services in the United States.

Objectives: Our objective was to determine the level and quality of natural family planning service provided by Roman Catholic Diocese-related programs in the United States.

Study Design: Programs volunteered quarterly data for five years, using least squares regression we estimated service levels for programs never reporting.

Results: From 1988 to 1992, 78 dioceses ever reported and 96 never reported. The majority of clients were avoiding pregnancy and receiving follow-up. An average of 18,061 women were taught by these programs each year in the reporting period.

Conclusion: Without greater commitment of resources, it is likely that NFP will continue to be a marginal method of family planning in the United States.