New Harris campaign ad features Kentucky rape victim who became pregnant at 12 • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

A new campaign ad from Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign features Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who survived sexual abuse and was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at the age of 12.

Duvall says in the 30-second spot titled “Monster” that when she discovered she was pregnant, she “had options” that survivors of rape and incest will no longer have after the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in 2022. Kentucky's current abortion ban does not make exceptions for rape or incest.

“I didn't know what to do. I was a child. I didn't know what it meant to be pregnant at all,” Duvall says in the ad. “Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, girls and women across the country lost the right to choose, even in cases of rape or incest.”

Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted for the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. He has boasted about the appointments and said during a Sept. 10 debate with Harris that he would not sign a nationwide abortion bill, but gave no answer on whether he would veto such a ban.

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“I have done something that has been tried for 52 years, to bring Roe v. Wade to the States, and through the genius, heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we have succeeded,” Trump said, adding that he “firmly” believes in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Harris said during the debate that she would “proudly” sign a bill restoring federal abortion rights.

Duvall spoke publicly about her experiences for the first time after Roe was overturned and Kentucky's trigger law took effect. She appeared in a 2023 campaign ad for Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, criticizing Beshear's Republican opponent for his support of Kentucky's abortion ban.

“Telling a 12-year-old girl that she has to have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable,” she said in Beshear's campaign ad.

Beshear won re-election.

Duvall also appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month alongside other women affected by abortion bans in the South, and met with Gov. Josh Shapiro in Philadelphia on Sunday to kick off the Harris campaign's “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour. The tour stops in Harrisburg on Wednesday.

The soundtrack of the “Monster” ad is the song “When the Party's Over” by Billie Eilish, who endorsed Harris and Walz's ticket on Tuesday “because they fight to protect our reproductive freedom.”

Harris was in Philadelphia on Tuesday for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists, where she reiterated her support for reinstating Roe and enshrining its protections in law. Women, she said, should be able to decide what is best for them when it comes to their own bodies, “instead of having their government tell them what to do — particularly a group of people in these state capitals who think they are better placed to tell them what to do than they are to know what is in their best interest.”

“Monster” begins airing today on national television as well as on broadcast and cable networks in swing states, including Pennsylvania.