Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Wednesday released a devastating new ad featuring a woman who became pregnant at age 12 after being raped by her stepfather.
The one-minute ad titled “Monster” comes at a time when the Democratic presidential candidate has put the overturning of Roe v Wade and access to abortion at the center of her campaign for the White House.
The ad is narrated by Hadley Duvall, 22, of Kentucky, who has been sharing her brutal story while publicly advocating for abortion rights.
“I was five years old when my stepfather first molested me. I felt like I was alone on a planet with a monster,” Duvall says.
“I was twelve when he got me pregnant,” she can be heard saying as a video shows a close-up of Duvall’s face.
Hadley Duvall, 22, shares the story of how she became pregnant at age 12 after being raped by her stepfather in a new Harris campaign ad
The ad also features images of Duvall when she was younger, wearing braces in one photo and a cheerleading uniform in another.
“I remember thinking I had to get out of my skin,” Duvall says. “I can’t be myself right now. This can’t be. I didn’t know what to do. I was a child. I didn’t know at all what it meant to be pregnant.”
“But I had options,” Duvall says directly to the camera.
“Because Donald Trump overturned Roe v Wade, girls and women across the country have lost the right to choose, even in the case of rape or incest,” she added.
“Donald Trump did this. He took away our freedom,” she concluded in front of the camera.
The song playing behind the ad is by singer Billie Eilish, who endorsed Harris for president on Tuesday.
Harris’ campaign ad featuring Hadley Duvall features images of her as a child as she tells the story of being raped and becoming pregnant at age 12.
Abortion rights and the overturning of Roe v Wade have been a motivating issue for Democrats and a priority issue in the 2024 election.
Harris has called for enshrining abortion protections once guaranteed by Roe before the landmark 1973 decision is overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
Democrats have accused Trump of being responsible for overturning Roe with the Dobbs decision, since he nominated three of the six conservative justices who decided the case.
The former president has praised the justices on the court who overturned Roe and has insisted he has no regrets.
Trump now says abortion should be left to the states and supports exceptions in cases of rape and incest. But during the recent presidential debate he refused to say whether he would sign a national abortion ban.
The Republican presidential candidate has also said he would vote against Florida’s ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and end his home state’s ban on abortion at six weeks.
Harris has criticized Trump for nominating three of the six Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v Wade in 2022. Trump has praised her decision and now claims abortion access should be left to the states after previously signaling an openness to a national ban.
Republicans have tried to turn the tables on Democrats, accusing them of being extremists. But when the vice president talks about protecting abortion access on the campaign trail, she often receives some of the loudest applause at her rallies.
The overturning of Roe energized Democrats and independents in the 2022 midterm elections and helped stave off the so-called Republican red wave.
Duvall’s new ad for Harris’ campaign is one of several times he has publicly defended Democrats ahead of the 2024 election.
She recently joined other women addressing abortion rights at the Democratic National Convention.
In a dramatic moment, Duvall spoke about being raped by her stepfather on stage at the convention in Chicago in front of thousands in the stadium and millions watching on television before directly attacking Trump on the issue.
“He calls it a beautiful thing. What’s beautiful about a girl having to carry her parents’ child in her womb?” she said. “There are other survivors who don’t have any options.”
People in the audience gasped and became audibly emotional during his remarks.
Abortion rights advocate Hadley Duvall speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19.
Most recently, Duvall joined Harris’ campaign for her Fight for Reproductive Freedom bus tour with a stop in Pennsylvania.
Before her exit from the race, she also appeared sharing her story in a campaign ad for President Biden. The first time she shared her story publicly was in 2023, after the abortion ban went into effect in her home state of Kentucky.
