(LEX 18) — Two Kentuckians took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night to talk about one of the biggest issues in the upcoming election - abortion rights.
Hadley Duvall, a survivor who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12, and Gov. Andy Beshear spoke against abortion bans.
"I was raped by stepfather after years of sexual abuse," Duvall said. "At age 12, I took my first pregnancy test, and it was positive. That was the first time I was ever told: 'You have options.'"
"I can't imagine not having a choice," Duvall added. "But today, that's the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump's abortion bans."
Beshear, who called Duvall one of the bravest people he's ever met, spoke against Kentucky's near-total abortion ban. The Commonwealth currently does not offer abortion access to rape or incest victims.
Beshear blamed Trump for that. He attacked Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, for anti-abortion policies.
"Trump and Vance simply don't believe in your freedom," Beshear said. "Trump says people are absolutely thrilled that women have their basic rights eliminated. J.D. Vance says women should stay in violent marriages and that pregnancies resulting from rape are simply inconvenient. Their policies give rapists more rights than their victims. That's not inconvenient. It's just plain wrong."
"A woman grieving a non-viable pregnancy shouldn't be required to carry it to term just to listen to her child die or to hear no sound at all," Beshear added. "All women should have the freedom to make their own decision, freedom over their own bodies, freedom whether to pursue IVF, freedom whether to have children at all."
