I was raped as a child. Kentucky, Tennessee abortion bans mean girls like me have no options

I found out I was pregnant after being raped at the age of 12. I was just a kid. It was awful. I’m continuing this advocacy because it would have been so much worse if I had been a little girl who had to do what politicians dictated in this situation. That is what is happening right now for thousands of girls and women here in Kentucky and in every state with extreme abortion bans, including Tennessee.

I don’t have many memories before my stepdad started his assaults. I do have vivid memories of leaving middle school early one day to take a pregnancy test and flipping it over on the bathroom counter too scared to look. I remember finding out I was pregnant as a 7th grader and feeling completely alone in the world.

What I would want to tell that scared 12-year-old is that she is going to be okay. She is going to grow up to play college soccer, be an All-American cheerleader, adopt the world’s cutest dog named Honey, be the first person in her family to graduate from college and get ready for grad school so she could help other survivors. But I will always be healing. What I can’t stop thinking about is another 12-year-old girl like me who has no options.

Support moms who chose abortion: Law will punish doctors for saving women's lives via abortion

When I was that scared little girl, at least I had options. Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land. I wasn’t going to have to carry that pregnancy to term. I miscarried, but if I hadn’t, the idea of politicians forcing me to give birth to my rapist’s baby is unconscionable.

Dobbs triggered abortion bans in Tennessee and other states

Monday, June 24th, is the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, and because of it 13 states including Kentucky, have these extreme bans, with no exceptions.

Last legislative session I was honored to have Hadley’s Law introduced in Kentucky. It would have provided exceptions to the state’s abortion ban for survivors like me. It did not even get a hearing by the KY legislature this year. In fact, it wasn’t even assigned to a committee. I cannot say how frustrating and heartbreaking that was.

I look forward to traveling to Tennessee – another state with an extreme, no-exceptions ban – this week with Gov. Andy Beshear, who understands that women and girls need options and that these laws are cruel and inhumane.

I say all the time, I’m not pro-abortion, I’m pro mind your own business. I am asking for basic compassion and empathy.

Seeking common ground: Tennessee’s Bill Lee and Kentucky’s Andy Beshear are rivals. They should work together.

I am asking that when people go to the polls to vote this November they think about survivors and what the overturn of Roe means for real women’s and girl’s lives.

It matters who we elect. I could be your sister, niece, cousin, friend, daughter or grandchild. As we approach two years since Roe was overturned, I am asking you to really think about what this has meant and what the potential of a nationwide ban on choice entails. And to vote accordingly.

Hadley Duvall is a Women's empowerment activist! She stepped into the public for Governor Andy Beshear during the past election, becoming the face of reproductive rights for the state of Kentucky. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Is abortion legal in Tennessee? Statewide bans leave women few options