The previous two chapters reviewed common biological mechanisms linking stressful lifestyles, drug abuse and significant increased risk of serious structural and/or functional anomalies in the offspring. It was also emphasized that drug abuse, being predominantly a consequence of poverty, social alienation and biological ignorance, is a matter of personal and collective responsibility. A judgemental attitude is not an effective method of reducing preventable disability in children – raising standards of living and providing the empowering qualities of high-calibre education is much more effective. The present chapter provides information about fertility and ageing gametes, and promotes increased awareness about possible relationships between ‘natural family planning’ methods of contraception and pregnancy outcomes.

Fertility awareness is far more than just the accumulated basics of the reproductive process. Fertility awareness involves being knowledgeable about the physiology of reproduction, applying that knowledge to oneself and one's partner, and then making informed decisions concerning the timing of intercourse and understanding how each contraceptive method interrupts fertility and how that method may fail if not used correctly. Fertility awareness information is necessary both to plan pregnancies as well as to avoid them.