An exploratory study to characterize the population of patients who cancel or no-show scheduled abortion care appointments
Abortion
Awarded 2023
Emerging Scholars in Family Planning
Rylee Beltran, BA
Planned Parenthood North Central States
$7,500

Rylee Beltran is a current student in the department of Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. At the College of Public Health, she is a Maternal and Child Health Scholar in a 5-year Undergraduate-to-Graduate program. Rylee received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with honors from Grinnell College in 2022 and is currently employed with the Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) research division as a research assistant focusing on Iowa-based contraception and abortion projects. Rylee’s emerging scholars research project is a retrospective chart review to characterize the patient population who does not attend their abortion appointments as scheduled. Utilizing PPNCS electronic health record data, Rylee will characterize demographic trends in people scheduling abortion care in Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota post-Dobbs decision. Conducting this research will fill a gap in our understanding of how no-shows, cancellations, and missed appointments function in varying political and sociocultural environments of abortion care in the Upper-Midwest. This work will contribute to a wider body of literature that is working to develop measures to accurately represent abortion in access and use with an emphasis on reducing structural barriers that contribute to inequities in care.