Whether she is poor, illiterate or blind she learns to recognise the fertile phase in her menstrual cycle when conception may occur so that she knows ahead of time when intimate sexual contact with her husband may or may not lead to pregnancy.

Fertility is signalled by the development of a particular type of mucus from the crypts of the cervix. Sperm live in the best type of mucus but without it they die within an hour or so. The mucus symptom, telling the woman she has begun her fertile phase, develops a few days prior to ovulation. The Peak day (the last day of the lubricative sensation) occurs very close to the time of ovulation. She is possibly fertile for a further three days and menstruation follows 11 - 16 days later.

A woman is not asked to do anything except pay attention to what she has already noticed just as she goes about her normal daily activies; keep a simple record and apply four common sense guidelines. The daily chart is very important in reminding her to pay attention to the changes in sensation at the vulva and the appearance of any discharge seen. It also gives valuable information to the couple so that they can make decisions about their joint fertility.

Clinical trials demonstrate how effective it is when avoiding pregnancy (better than 99%) while helping those couples labelled "low fertility" or on IVF lists to conceive a long awaited baby 80% of the time (Australian trial, 2006). The Billings chart gives valuable hormonal information to doctors and is increasingly used as a diagnostic tool in the treatment of infertility.

The Method was first called the Ovulation Method because ovulation is the important event in the cycle determining its length but in 1978 the World Health Organisation added the name of the doctor/wife team who developed it 55 years ago: Dr. John Billings AM, KSCG, MD, FRACP, FRCP(Lond) R.I.P., and Dr. Evelyn Billings, AM, DSCG, MB BS, DCH(Lond) in order to distinguish it from other methods. Since then Professor Emeritus James B. Brown MSc(NZ) PhD (Edin), FRACOG (hormone expert) and Professor Emeritus Erik Odeblad MD(Gynae), PhD, world renowned expert on the cervix, have joined the scientific team and validated the four common sense guidelines which may not be moderated in any way.

To ensure that the authentic Billings Ovulation Method is learned using the required teaching materials it is important to find an accredited instructor near you. Internet instruction is available on the official WOOMB website.

This website is maintained by the Billings Centre of Fertility Education/ Vancouver Island, BC Canada
with the goal of updating medical doctors and encouraging young couples to train as Billings teachers.