WASHINGTON (AP) — A 22-year-old woman who became abortion rights advocate After being raped by her stepfather as a child, she will campaign this weekend alongside first lady Jill Biden in Pennsylvania in the 2024 election around the anniversary of the fall of Roe v . Wade.
Hadley Duvall of Owensboro, Kentuckyfirst told her story publicly last fall in a campaign ad for the gubernatorial race in her home state, discussing the consequences of abortion restrictions, particularly those with no exceptions for rape or incest.
In advertising supporting the Democratic government. Andy Beshear, Duvall recounted how she was raped by her stepfather at age 12, became pregnant and suffered a miscarriage. Her stepfather was convicted of rape and is in prison.
In the ad, Duvall named the anti-abortion Republican candidate by name and said that “anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest will never be able to understand what it means to be at my place “.
Beshear won the electionand Democrats said Duvall’s ad was a powerful motivator, particularly for rural male voters who had already voted for Republican Donald Trump for president.
Today, Duvall turns his attention to the White House election.
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She plans to appear Sunday with first lady Jill Biden at a rally in Pittsburgh that is part of President Joe Biden’s efforts to motivate voters on abortion rights, and Duvall will continue to campaign for the outgoing Democratic president. Jill Biden will also host an event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
The Supreme Court decided on June 24, 2022 to overturn abortion rights that have been in place since 1973. Since then, about half of states have some sort of ban in place, and 10 states have no exceptions for rape or incident. The consequences of these bans go far beyond restricting access to those who want it end unwanted pregnancies.
“Survivors like me have our childhoods taken away from us, and it’s something we heal from every day. At the very least, we deserve to have our own choices,” Duvall said in a statement to The Associated Press. “But, thanks to Donald Trump, there are currently abortion bans across the country, with no exceptions in cases of rape or incident. I feel like I owe it to myself and many little girls to speak up. They cannot express themselves, unlike me, and our lives and our future are at stake in this election.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has repeatedly taken credit for rolling back a federally guaranteed right to abortion. He named three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But he publicly Resisted support for a national abortion ban.
The events in Pennsylvania are part of a larger campaign around the anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That effort began this week with events hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris.
The campaign is hosting more than 35 events across the country, including in the key states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia. The events feature women and doctors who were deeply affected by the fall of Roe, Including Amanda Zurawski and Kaityln Joshuawho said abortion restrictions put them in medical danger.
The majority of American adultsincluding those living in states where abortion is most strictly restricted, want it to be legal at least during the early stages of pregnancy, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
In the two years since Roe’s decline, reproductive health in the United States has become increasingly successful, and Biden and Democrats are seeking to highlight the growing fallout as a reason to re-elect the president.
Women who never intended to end their pregnancy almost died because they were unable to receive emergency care. Care for miscarriage was delayed. Routine reproductive medical care dries up in states with strict bans. Fertility treatments have been temporarily suspended in Alabama.
Duvall is a senior at Midway University in Midway, Kentucky. She also spoke publicly about a proposed state law that would provide narrowly tailored exceptions to the nation’s abortion law.
The AP does not normally identify victims of sexual assault, but Duvall chose to be identified and spoke publicly about her experience and its connection to the abortion debate.