Alison Gemmill

(1/2) Please join us in congratulating these members who continue to be the #SourceForScience on abortion and contraception!

@alisongemmill.bsky.social @caitlinmyers.bsky.social @imaddowzimet.bsky.social @jstrasser.bsky.social @ellendschenk.bsky.social @juliemaslowsky.bsky.social

Thanks, Carl!

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thank you!!

This is quite the all-star lineup of demographers with expertise in fertility.

Period fertility (or mortality) rates are not destiny.

If we are really that concerned about future population growth, perhaps we should just make it easier for people to have families? It's in our power

Hi friends! Some bittersweet news to share:

I’m thrilled to be coming back to California to join UCLA as an Associate Professor in the Dept of Epidemiology! 🌴🔵🟡

Immensely grateful to my Hopkins colleagues & students who made the past 6 years so rewarding. ❤️

The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes. 400 kids lost their school. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s retreat from funding social issues forced the closure of a school Chan opened for disadvantaged families in Silicon Valley.

We cannot rely on private philanthropy to address structural and systemic issues over the long run because the changing whims of private donors means investments are piecemeal and seldom sustained for long enough to make a difference. wapo.st/3ZRonor

Thank you. I’m on the same page. Feeling a glimmer of hope, but knowing that the attacks on science will continue no matter what.

I saw that. Will be keeping my fingers crossed

Does this mean I get my NIH grant back?? The one that was terminated bc I said incarceration was a form of “structural inequality”?

Our latest paper is now in print, showing ⬆️ prevalence of adverse perinatal health outcomes in the wake of pandemic. This suggests potential lasting impacts on future generations. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... @societyforepi.bsky.social @dkarasek.bsky.social @alisongemmill.bsky.social 1/

Opinion | Don’t panic over declining fertility rates — and don’t let anyone guilt you Lower fertility rates aren’t necessarily a bad thing.

Worries over low birth rates are nothing new. Everything @lesja.bsky.social, @alisongemmill.bsky.social, & I wrote in this op-ed *SIX* years ago is still true.

These worries have coalesced into a well-funded & influential pronatalist movement w/in an admin that is deeply anti-family.

🧵It’s #BlackMaternalHealthWeek -a time to center Black moms & a need for action.
I’m reflecting on what this means in a year when our #NIH grant “Looking Back to Look Forward: Social Environment Across the Lifecourse, Epigenetics, & Birth Outcomes in Black Families” was terminated.
#MedSky #EpiSky

I am so sorry to hear this heartbreaking news and am thinking of you and your study team. Thank you for all the important work you have done and will continue to do.

My favorite is placing pregnancy, infertility, maternal health, and child health (I.e., NICHD) in the Institute of Disability Research. What are we doing here??

Packed room for our session on #perinatal-demography at #paa2025 with Payal Hathi, @alisongemmill.bsky.social, Tim Bruckner, Haley Comfort @ihmeuw.bsky.social, and @jnobles.bsky.social as inspiring discussant.

You can download their submissions here:
submissions.mirasmart.com/PAA2025/Itin...

Hi from @popassocamerica.bsky.social meeting! These past few weeks have been incredibly tough, but I am so inspired by my colleagues and our community.

NEW: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is the decades old data collection program focusing on the health of infants and mothers at CDC. Critical source of data for all aspects of health thru process of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum etc. In the first weeks of the admin I ...

Same.

Yes— and the movie is doing well despite limited marketing, etc! Fans of animation are giving it great reviews. ☺️

Timeline cleanse

Go see my brother’s old school animation movie that was released this weekend—he was a co-writer and head of story. Proud of him!

While working on these studies, this was the finding that I couldn't stop thinking about.

Reproductive justice folks warned us about this.

Antiabortion Heartbeat Bills Cause Immense Suffering The rise in infant mortality in Texas shows that in states with strict abortion bans, forcing people to carry nonviable pregnancies to term codifies cruelty and unnecessary pain

Thanks, Greer. We wrote about this in our op-ed that was published last year. Sad that we have to keep reminding people about the traumatic experiences of those affected. www.scientificamerican.com/article/anti...

Are you affected by firings at federal health agencies? Have you been affected by firings at federal health agencies? @statnews would like to hear from you.

If you are one of the #CDC #HHS #FDA #NIH employees who have learned today that your employment is being abruptly ended, we want to hear from you. @altcdc.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f...

There is seasonality in outcomes like preterm birth and low birthweight. Lots of potential reasons studied in the literature-- seasonal infections, temperature, vitamin d, etc. Also some studies have shown socioeconomic variation in who gets pregnant throughout year.

These are based on real data. Births and infant deaths are highly seasonal.

I understand the critique, but we use the term because that's the standard demographic definition.

No-- We estimate 22,180 more live births and 478 more infant deaths than expected in the 14 states through December 2023. Does that help?