When Daniela Kent begins her doctoral studies in the fall, her research will be driven by a deeply personal medical experience.
When the veteran yoga practitioner learned she was unexpectedly pregnant four years ago, she decided to terminate the pregnancy after much thought and consideration. But despite a positive medical experience, Kent found that well-meaning people struggled to find the right words to support her. Even in a state with unrestricted abortion access, Kent encountered stigma around the procedure.
In other states, Kent said, women face additional hurdles, like barriers to access and disinformation, including that abortion causes infertility and cervical cancer.
“I’m going through all this and I'm doing this from a place of privilege, I can only imagine what other people are going through,” she said.
Kent said she chose to continue her communication studies at USC Annenberg because it allows students to take classes from a variety of USC’s schools.
“That spirit of academic collaboration is what I need in my research because it touches on a range of different disciplines,” she said.
Straddling multiple worlds is nothing new for Kent.
The self-professed “plant mom” spent the first three years of her life living in Spain and learning the language before moving to Napa Valley, where she spent the remainder of her childhood.
Stigma keeps many women from discussing their reproductive options in any tongue, Kent said, so she hopes her work with stigma reduction theory will produce actionable, evidence-based communication strategies to combat disinformation, disseminate accurate information and humanize the abortion experience.
Stigma reduction has shifted public dialogue around topics like sexual assault, addiction and mental health in recent decades, lessening shame for those who need help. Kent said she hopes to see similar shifts in the dialogue around abortion.
“Abortion care is healthcare and should be as widely accessible as other life-saving medications and surgical procedures,” the 36-year-old said.
Academia is a second act for Kent. After earning her bachelor’s degree in world literature from University of California San Diego, Kent spent 15 years as an experienced registered yoga teacher. She designed and facilitated customized yoga programs for a wide array of clients including cancer survivors, college athletic teams and those undergoing addiction recovery.
Kent does not see her two professional interests as wholly unrelated. Rather, she said her academic research is informed by the ethical practices of yoga, like “ahimsa,” which can be interpreted as disrupting processes of harm, and “satya,” which can be interpreted as speaking truth to power.
“In yoga, all ethical practices are interconnected. You can't really be kind to someone if you're keeping the truth from them,” Kent said. “If someone doesn’t know the truth, they can’t make an informed decision about what is really in the best interest of themselves and those they care for. And I think this is so pertinent to the abortion space because so much of what stigma does is create disinformation.”
Kent will spend her time at USC Annenberg blending her academic research with her yoga practice.
“I believe the best way to teach yoga is to authentically practice yoga. And for me, the most authentic way to practice yoga is to produce actionable research that ensures people have the education and access to resources they need to live healthy, safe, happy lives,” she said.