Vice President Kamala Harris is joining hands with Hadley Duvall, who survived her stepfather’s sexual abuse as a child, to sound the alarm on what a second Trump presidency would mean for women in America.
“If you have a woman in your life that means something to you, her life is at stake,” Duvall told “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, sitting alongside Vice President Harris, in an exclusive interview that aired on Monday morning. The interview marked the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling striking down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States.
“It does not matter if she is 12, 9, 34 … If there is a woman who is in that reproductive age, then, you know, her life is at stake during this election,” warned Duvall, now 22.
Harris applauded Duvall’s courage in sharing her traumatic story with the world to advocate for reproductive healthcare for all women. The vice president added: “Let’s be perfectly clear about how we got here. Because the former president [Donald Trump] hand selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did exactly as he intended.”
Harris lambasted what she called “Trump abortion bans,” including in states with a six week abortion ban and ones that do not have exceptions for rape and incest.
President Biden and Vice President Harris are making reproductive freedom a cornerstone issue of their campaign, hoping to use it to drive voter turnout and lure independents and even some Republicans.
Duvall, who grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky, was first sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 5. When she was 12, she learned she was pregnant and ultimately miscarried about two weeks later.
“The only thing that allowed me to hold on to hope were the words ‘you have options,’” Duvall recounted upon finding out that she was pregnant.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade — which triggered a near-total abortion ban in Kentucky (one of 12 states with a recently enacted ban that makes no exceptions for rape or incest) -- prompted Duvall to share her story on Facebook.
Subsequently, Duvall appeared in an ad last year for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s re-election campaign, criticizing his opponent, Republican Daniel Cameron, on his hardline stance on abortion, especially the lack of exceptions for rape and incest.
Brzezinski asked Duvall how she was eventually able to tell her mom that she was being abused.
Duvall said she repeatedly wanted to tell her mom, a recovering drug addict, the truth. But she feared doing so would risk her mom’s sobriety.
“That really stuck with me. And, you know, it always made me just want to keep the peace because it was, you know, my family,” Duvall recounted. But one day she texted her mom from school, saying “Don’t let me back out of what I need to tell you tonight.”
“I couldn’t even look at her. And I said, ‘Mom, I don’t know how to say this to you. I’m just gonna blurt it out. And I did. I said, I’ve been sexually abused for 10 years.”
The confession led to the arrest of Duvall’s stepfather Jeremy W. Whitledge, who is now serving 20 years in prison.
This sort of story is sadly altogether too common. To wit: Harris shared with Brzezinski that when she was in high school, she learned that her best friend was being molested by her stepfather.
“When I learned about it, I said to her: ‘you have to come live with us. I called my mother and my mother said, ‘of course she has to come stay with us.’ And she did,” said Harris.
“And so at a young age, I decided I wanted to do the work that was about protecting women and children. And I became a prosecutor, and I specialized in in particular child sexual assault.”
Harris continued: “The fact that after the Dobbs decision came down, that laws have been proposed and passed, that, as Hadley has said, make no exceptions even for rape or incest. Think about what these extremists are saying to a survivor of a crime of violence to their body, a survivor of a crime, that is a violation of their body, and to say to that survivor, and you have no right or authority to make a decision about what happens to your body next .That’s immoral.”
During the exclusive interview, Harris also weighed in d on a number of issues pertaining to the 2024 election:
On Trump’s potential running mate:
“It’s clear there is a litmus test. And he is going to pick someone who will be more loyal to him than to their country.”
On why this presidential race is so close:
“These races are always close …At the end of the day, we’re going to win ..Just look at what happened in the midterms, for example…Many talked about the red wave. I would call it a red drip. You look at where the American people were in so called red states, and so called blue states, every time this issue of abortion was on the ballot, the people voted for freedom …We have our differences, but the American people believe in the integrity of our country and our values, which include that we protect and fight for individual freedoms and liberties. And so I do believe that the contrast is clear. And in November, it will be stark.”
On Trump boasting that he connects with Black voters now, especially because of his felony conviction. And Trump saying that he’s not a racist, because he has a lot of Black friends:
“…It’s insulting. For a number of reasons, including he has reduced a whole population of people down to a sum total of what is in his mind who they are. And he’s wrong.”
On what’s at stake this election:
“It’s about freedom…Every person of whatever gender should understand that if such a fundamental freedom, such as the right to make decisions about your own body can be taken. Be aware of what other freedoms may be at stake.”
And her message to those who don’t believe conservatives could come after contraception, IVF and more next:
“Vote in November to make sure it doesn’t happen.”