The Feminist Women's Health Center is proud to be honored at the 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Awards. Presented by Emory's Rollins School of Public Health & Goizueta Business School, FWHC received an award "For Unwavering Dedication Towards Building Community Through Unity, Service, and Collaborative Responsibility."

More about the MLK Service Awards from Emory: "For over twenty years, the Rollins School of Public has honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Awards Program. The genesis of this celebration grew out of dialogue in 1993 between Dr. Joyce Essien and then Dean of the School of Public Health, Ray Greenburg where they agreed that it was time to align the mission and values of Public Health with the precepts of social justice. With the support of our current Dean James Curran and the diligent work of faculty, staff, and students, this program has grown to be a major event among the calendar of King Week activities held at Emory. Our program is unique as the only event that has consistently recognized and celebrated people and organizations in greater Atlanta whose work exemplifies the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

We can't believe the junk science & rape mythology sprouted last week! Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey, a practicing OB/GYN and co-chair of the House Republican Doctors Caucus decided to publically defend Akin’s “legitimate rape” remarks at a Cobb County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Thursday, January 10th, 2013.

Gingrey said, “Akin went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that. … It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, “Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight, because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.” So he was partially right wasn’t he? … And yet the media took that and tore it apart.” (Click here to hear an audio recording of his comments.)

Neither Gingrey nor Akin were anywhere CLOSE to correct and we would expect Gingrey, a practicing and licensed OB/GYN, to know his scientific facts rather than publically announcing that he “prescribes” alcohol as a fertility treatment. It is obvious that this misguided Congressional leader needs remedial courses and to actually read his professional medical journals to keep up with current Medical Science.

Many reputable organizations and peer-reviewed journals agree, adrenaline and stress do not impact fertility or inhibit ovulation – stress may even induce ovulation!

• American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG): “While chronic stress, for example from extreme exposure to famine or war, may decrease a woman’s ability to conceive, there is no scientific evidence that adrenaline, experienced in an acute stress situation, has an impact on ovulation." (ACOG statment referenced here: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/gop-looks-for-ways-to-stop-the-rape-comments-86082.html)
• American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM): “There isn't any proof that stress causes infertility.” (From: http://www.asrm.org/Stress_and_Infertility_factsheet/)
• Resolve – The National Fertility Organization: “Stress does not cause infertility. Listening to comments from some friends, relatives and even medical personnel, you might conclude that all you need to do to conceive is "Just relax," "Don't try so hard," "Go on vacation" or the all-time favorite, "Just adopt." But for the vast majority of couples struggling with infertility, this is not sound advice.” (From: http://www.resolve.org/infertility-overview/optimizing-fertility/relaxation-and-stress-management-for-infertile-women.html)
• A 2010 paper, “Acute stress may induce ovulation in women,” published in the Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Journal concluded: “Women may be induced to ovulate at any point of the menstrual cycle or even during periods of amenorrhea associated with pregnancy and lactation if exposed to an appropriate acute stressor under a right estradiol environment.” (from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890612/)
• A 1996 paper, “Rape-related pregnancy: estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women,” published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecoloy concluded: “Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. (From: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248)

Additional Information & Coverage:

• Slate.com - The Party of Rape: Every time the GOP claims to have purged rape extremism, another Republican opens his mouth.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Political Insider with Jim Galloway - Your daily jolt: Gingrey open to limits on mag clips, says Todd Akin was ‘partly right’
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Jay Bookman: Gingrey, Broun would put rape theory into federal law
• Talking Points Memo - GOP Rep: Todd Akin ‘Partly Right’ On Legitimate Rape
• AJC PolitiFact - Gingrey defense of Akin's rape comments misses the mark

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution published a very interesting article about the delclining birthrate in Georgia and nationwide. Our very own Maria Azuri from the Lifting Lating Voices Initiative is asked about the recent decrease in Latina births in the US.

Un articulo muy interesante, donde nuestra Maria Azuri le preguntan sobre el reciente bajo en nacimientos de Latinas en los Estados Unidos. Por favor lean lo y compartan.

Read "Georgia birth rate, like nation's, is falling" at the AJC's website