The Saint Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction was founded in 1985 to answer the call for reproductive health care that fully respects life. The challenges in Pope Paul VI’s 1968 letter Humanae Vitae prompted Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, to begin scientific research in the applications of natural fertility regulation and to open the Saint Paul VI Institute in order to build a culture of life in women’s health care throughout the world. The Institute has developed a new approach to women’s health care that embodies the best principles of medicine and offers superior treatments to women and challenges mainstream medicine, which relies on contraception, in vitro fertilization, and abortion.
Its healthy, moral solutions to issues in women’s health care impacts the lives of thousands of women, couples, doctors, medical students, priests, and babies on national and international levels. The Institute’s developments — Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System and NaProTechnology — are building a culture of life in women’s health care through its current programs and services.
Today, the Institute is located in Omaha, Nebraska, and is a 14,000-square-foot international research, education, medical, and service center. With a staff of 22 full- and part-time professionals and a mere annual budget of $1 million, the Institute is dedicated to continuing its founding mission to build a culture of life in women’s health care throughout the world.
Real Problems … Unreal Solutions — Current Reproductive Medicine
The artificial reproductive technologies were introduced with the birth control pill in 1960. These last 59 years of artificial reproductive technology represents fertility control in areas on family planning and reproductive health. It employs contraception, sterilization, abortion, and in vitro fertilization (abortive). Artificial reproductive technologies are now considered the only option for couples with reproductive and gynecological health problems and concerns. Physicians have stopped looking for the causes of the conditions and treatment is aimed only at the treatment of the symptoms.
Oral contraceptives, which are potentially abortifacient, provide only symptomatic treatment when prescribed for women’s health problems, and they do not affect the underlying causes. The birth control pill is used to “treat” menstrual cramps, recurrent ovarian cysts, abnormal bleeding, premenstrual syndrome, acne, irregular cycles, and endometriosis. Abortion is used to “treat” high-risk pregnancies. In vitro fertilization is used to “treat” infertility and miscarriages. These unreal solutions to real problems are all abortive approaches.
Real Problems … Real Solutions — Saint Paul VI Institute
The Institute networked a natural system of fertility regulation — the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System (CrMS) — with a women’s health science — NaProTechnology. These provide effective, morally acceptable, and sexually healthy options for women and couples. The CrMS and NaProTechnology enable couples to reconnect love and life in the area of fertility regulation and in reproductive and gynecologic health.
Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System
A natural fertility tracking that generates standardized information about women’s reproductive health and enables couples to achieve or avoid pregnancy effectively. It is the only system that can be used with NaProTechnology to help diagnose and treat reproductive health problems.
You can learn more about the Creighton Model at creightonmodel.com.
NaProTechnology — Natural Procreative Technology
A women’s health science that uses the Creighton Model System to help a woman reach her optimal state of reproductive health. Its medical and surgical approaches, developed over decades of research and now emerging in peer-reviewed medical literature achieve real solutions to problems such as infertility, problem periods, pelvic pain, miscarriage, and postpartum depression.
In the summer of 2004, The Medical & Surgical Practice of NaProTechnology, a major medical textbook authored by Dr. Hilgers, was published. This textbook is a compilation of almost 30 years of dedicated research and provides a strong professional case for doctors and medical schools. In 2010, a book for the general public, The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman’s Cycle, was published.
You can learn more about NaProTechnology at naprotechnology.com.
Mission Statement
The Saint Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is committed to building a culture of life in women’s reproductive healthcare.
Vision Statement
Inspired by Pope Paul VI’s landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Saint Paul VI Institute is a preeminent leader in reproductive health research, education, service, and ethics. From these cornerstones, the Saint Paul VI Institute seeks to extend to families worldwide authentic healing, strong marriages, and medicine that fully adheres to God’s design for human sexuality and reproduction. Taking its direction from the wisdom and teachings of the Roman Catholic tradition, the Saint Paul VI Institute stands firmly on the rock of faith, and by the light of this faith, provides hope and healing to women, couples, and families.