CHICAGO — A 22-year-old Owensboro-native will introduce Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear at the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Monday night.
Hadley Duvall became a prominent abortion rights advocate in Kentucky after sharing her story publicly in a campaign ad for Beshear last fall during his bid for reelection.
Democrats have credited Duvall’s ad as a strong motivator for his reelection, particularly for rural, male voters who had previously voted for Republican Donald Trump for president.
Beshear is expected to speak before a packed United Center at 10 p.m. EST. You can watch his speech on WHAS11, WHAS11.com and WHAS11+.
Duvall will be joined by Amanda Zurawski and Kaitlyn Joshua, two women from other states with abortion restrictions.
Who is Hadley Duvall?
In campaign ads for Beshear, Duvall spoke of how she was raped by her stepfather at age 12, became pregnant and miscarried. Her stepfather was convicted of rape and is in prison.
Duvall called out Beshear's 2023 Republican opponent for governor, Daniel Cameron, in the ad and said that “anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it’s like to stand in my shoes.”
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Duvall has spoken about the consequences of abortion restrictions, particularly those without exceptions for rape or incest.
In honor of Duvall, lawmakers attempted to file a bill that would have made exceptions to Kentucky’s abortion ban earlier this year. Senate Bill 99, or “Hadley’s Law,” would have allowed abortions for survivors of rape or incest and when a pregnancy threatens the life of a mother. The bill ultimately failed to pass this legislative session, however.
At the national level, Duvall joined First Lady Jill Biden on the campaign trail in June as part of Biden’s reelection push.
She's also appeared alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, who's now taken up the mantle as the Democratic nominee, and joined Beshear at events for Harris across the country.
The Supreme Court decided on June 24, 2022, to overturn abortion rights that had been in place since 1973. Since then, roughly half the states have some sort of ban in place, and Kentucky is one of 10 states with no exceptions for rape or incest. The consequences of these bans go far beyond restricting access for those who wish to end unwanted pregnancies.
“Survivors like me have our childhood taken away from us, and it’s something we are healing from every single day. At the very least, we deserve to have our own choices," Duvall said in a statement to The Associated Press. "But, because of Donald Trump, right now there are abortion bans across the country with no exceptions for rape or incest. I feel like I owe it to myself and to a lot of little girls to speak up. They can’t speak up and I can -- and our lives and futures are at stake in this election.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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