Novel approaches to handling the missing data question: Who isn’t counted in studies of abortion access?
Abortion
Awarded 2024
Emerging Scholars in Family Planning
Rachel Murro, MPH
University of California, San Francisco
$7,500

Rachel Murro (she/her) is a PhD Student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She has a Master of Science in Public Health from CUNY School of Public Health and studies access to, and effects of, abortion and contraception care. Rachel’s Emerging Scholars project uses data from the Midwest Abortion Pathways Study (MAPS) to understand potential sources of bias in prospective cohort studies examining the trajectories of abortion-seekers. Using follow-up sampling and novel statistical methods for handling missing data, she will describe the types of individuals lost to follow-up in studies of abortion access. These findings will inform researchers of the most cost effective, bias-limiting approaches to conducting longitudinal research on abortion-seekers. They will also shed light on the specific barriers faced by abortion seekers who are unable to obtain their abortions.