Birth control pioneer John Billings dies

MELBOURNE, April 4 (UPI) -- John Billings, developer of a popular natural contraception method supported by Catholics, has died in Melbourne.

He was 89.

Billings and his wife, Evelyn, developed the Billings Ovulation Method --which helps women to identify their fertile and non-fertile states based on an an examination of her cervical mucus -- in the 1950s, a decade before the birth control pill was born, the Australian Broadcasting System said.

Marian Corkill, director of the World Organization Ovulation Method Billings International in Melbourne said the Billings Method was taught in more than 100 countries including China.