Women using Natural Family Planning can now buy a computerized device to help them keep trace of their fertility cycle. The Bioself 110, invented by Quebec resident Edmond Desjacques, is available in drug stores in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. The cost is $97.
The Bioself, placed under the tongue, records the woman’s basal body temperature each morning when she wakes. Basal body temperature rises when the woman ovulates and becomes fertile. The device records the daily temperature reading and, after it has been used regularly for a while, establishes her fertility pattern in its memory.
The device incorporates an alarm which beeps every morning to remind the woman to take her temperature. Once her fertility pattern has been established, she can press a button to see where she is in her cycle. A blinking red light indicates a highly fertile phase, a continuous red light means low fertility, while a green light is for infertile phases.
The Bioself 110 is not a new method of Natural Family Planning, it is a technological aid to record-keeping for the temperature method, which may be of psychological reassurance to women who do not believe such a simple method of family planning can be reliable.
