Profile picture for user barar.rana

Rana E. Barar

Senior Project Director, University of California-San Francisco
Chapter Leader: Bay Area SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Rana

About Rana

Barar's previous work focused on providing data on people's experiences with abortion and being turned away from a wanted abortion and on the safety and acceptability of alternative methods of provision of medication abortion. She led implementation of the Turnaway Study, featured in a book published in 2020. Her current work focuses on building capacity for researchers to engage community stakeholders and translate their research into policy and practice.

Contributions

In the News

Rana E. Barar quoted on experiences after abortions by Julia Calderone, "Bill Nye to Planned Parenthood Defunders: ‘You Literally Don’t Know What You’re Talking About" Business Insider, September 26, 2015.
"Best Practice for Abortion Policies: Listen to Women’s Stories," Rana E. Barar, Research Gate Blog, September 8, 2015.
Guest to discuss the finding that women who are denied abortions remain tethered to abusive partners on Radio or Not, Rana E. Barar, October 9, 2014.

Publications

"Projections and Opinions from 100 Experts in Long-Acting Reversible Contraception" (with Heather Gould, Diana Greene Foster, Ivette Gomez, Debbie Nguyen, and M. Antonia Biggs). Contraception 92, no. 6 (2015): 543-552.

Discusses a survey of published researchers of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), examines their opinions about important barriers to LARC use in the United States (US),and analyzes the projections for LARC use in the absence of barriers. Discusses the attitudes toward incentives for clinicians to provide and women to use LARC methods.

"Interest in and Experience with IUD Self-Removal" (with Diana Greene Foster, Daniel Grossman, David K. Turok, Jeffrey Peipert, Linda Prine, Courtney A. Schreiber, Andrea V. Jackson, and Eleanor Bimla Schwarz). Contraception 90, no. 1 (2014): 54-59.

Assesses the interest in attempting and success in IUD self-removal among women seeking IUD discontinuation from five US health centers. Finds that many women are interested in the concept of IUD self-removal, although relatively few women currently succeed in removing their own IUD. Suggests that more research is needed to know whether offering the option of self-removal holds the potential to increase IUD use and reduce rates of unintended pregnancy.

"Implementing a Prospective Study of Women Seeking Abortion in the United States: Understanding and Overcoming Barriers to Recruitment" (with Loren M. Dobkin, Heather Gould, Michaela Ferrari, Elisette I. Weiss, and Diana Greene Foster). Women’s Health Issues 24, no. 1 (2014): 115-123.

Confronts recruitment challenges common to medical practice-based studies and unique to sensitive services. Argues that visiting sites and communicating frequently with facility staff, as well as offering incentives to patients to hear more about the study before informed consent, may help to increase participation in prospective health studies and facilitate evaluation of sensitive women's health services.

"Denial of Abortion because of Provider Gestational Age Limits in the United States" (with Ushma Upadhyay, Tracy A. Weitz, Rachel K. Jones, and Diana Greene Foster). American Journal of Public Health 104, no. 9 (2014): 1687-1694.

Finds that adolescents and women who did not recognize their pregnancies early were most likely to delay seeking abortion care. Discusses the reasons women report for delaying care, the most common reason being the need to raise money for travel and procedure costs. Estimates that each year more than 4000 US women are denied an abortion because of facility gestational limits and must carry unwanted pregnancies to term.