Current:Home > StocksTradeEdge-Now a Roe advocate, woman raped by stepfather as a child tells her story in Harris campaign ad -MoneyTrend
TradeEdge-Now a Roe advocate, woman raped by stepfather as a child tells her story in Harris campaign ad
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-08 04:07:55
WASHINGTON (AP) — A 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights advocate after she was raped by her stepfather as a child tells her story in a new campaign ad for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Hadley Duvall says in voiceover that she’s never slept a full night in her life — her stepfather first started abusing her when she was five years old,TradeEdge and impregnated her when she was 12. As she speaks, images of Duvall as a child flash on the screen. The soundtrack of the ad is a song by Billie Eilish, who endorsed the vice president on Tuesday.
“I just remember thinking I have to get out of my skin. I can’t be me right now. Like, this can’t be it,” Duvall says. “I didn’t know what to do. I was a child. I didn’t know what it meant to be pregnant, at all. But I had options.”
The ad is part of a continued push by the Harris campaign to highlight the growing consequences of the fall of Roe, including that some states have abortion restrictions with no exceptions for rape or incest. Women in some states are suffering increasingly perilous medical care and the first reported instance of a woman dying from delayed reproductive care surfaced this week. Harris lays the blame squarely on Republican nominee Donald Trump, who appointed three of the conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
Duvall blames Trump, too.
“Because Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, girls and women all over the country have lost the right to choose, even for rape or incest,” she says in the ad. “Donald Trump did this. He took away our freedom.”
During the presidential debate on Sept. 10, Trump repeatedly took credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices and leaned heavily on his catchall response to questions on abortion rights, saying the issue should be left up to the states. He said he would not sign a national abortion ban.
“I’m not signing a ban,” he said, adding that “there is no reason to sign the ban.”
But he also repeatedly declined to say whether he would veto such a ban if he were elected again — a question that has lingered as the Republican nominee has shifted his stances on the crucial election issue.
Duvall of Owensboro, Kentucky, first told her story publicly last fall in a campaign ad for the governor’s race in her home state supporting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Duvall’s stepfather was convicted of rape and is in prison; she miscarried.
Beshear won reelection, and Democrats have said Duvall’s ad was a strong motivator, particularly for rural, male voters who had previously voted for Trump.
Duvall is also touring the country to campaign for Harris along with other women who have been telling their personal stories since the fall of Roe, joining Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro last week.
veryGood! (91479)
Related
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Auto Industry Pins Hopes on Fleets to Charge America’s Electric Car Market
- Maryland Climate Ruling a Setback for Oil and Gas Industry
- Activist Judy Heumann led a reimagining of what it means to be disabled
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- Global Warming Is Hitting Ocean Species Hardest, Including Fish Relied on for Food
- Nusrat Chowdhury confirmed as first Muslim female federal judge in U.S. history
- Walgreens won't sell abortion pills in red states that threatened legal action
- Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
- Knowledge-based jobs could be most at risk from AI boom
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Avatar Editor John Refoua Dead at 58
- Tori Spelling Says Mold Infection Has Been Slowly Killing Her Family for Years
- The 4 kidnapped Americans are part of a large wave of U.S. medical tourism in Mexico
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- In Texas, Medicaid ends soon after childbirth. Will lawmakers allow more time?
- Standing Rock’s Pipeline Fight Brought Hope, Then More Misery
- To safeguard healthy twin in utero, she had to 'escape' Texas for abortion procedure
Recommendation
Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
Why 'lost their battle' with serious illness is the wrong thing to say
Can Obama’s Plan to Green the Nation’s Federal Buildings Deliver?
Blac Chyna Debuts Edgy Half-Shaved Head Amid Personal Transformation Journey
Travis Hunter, the 2
Can Obama’s Plan to Green the Nation’s Federal Buildings Deliver?
Fracking Ban About to Become Law in Maryland
Texas Gov. Abbott signs bill banning transgender athletes from participating on college sports teams aligned with their gender identities