Hadley Duvall is a young woman from Kentucky who has a heartrending story. From the time she was 5 years old, she was sexually abused by her stepfather. Growing up, she would be in school and think to herself, “Do these people go home, and are they afraid of their dad, too?” When she was 12 years old, her stepfather raped her, and she soon found out that she was pregnant.

Duvall made the choice to have an abortion.

In recent days, she spoke out in a recent ad by the Biden campaign, released before the president announced he was not running for reelection, against Republican nominees Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, stating, “The first thing that was told to me when I saw that positive pregnancy test was, ‘You have options.’ If Roe v. Wade would’ve been overturned sooner, I wouldn’t have heard that. And then it had me thinking that there’s someone that doesn’t get to hear that now.”

The young woman has offered her voice to champion so-called abortion rights in her home state of Kentucky for months. Kentucky has one of the strongest laws against abortion in the country. As of July 15, 2022, there is a complete ban on abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. This continues to polarize voters and politicians in the state, but also around the country.

Jill Biden, wife of the current president, Joe Biden, a Catholic who breaks with Church teaching on abortion, also released a video of a speech on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Duvall gave in her presence. “Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade,” she noted, adding that he is “proudly responsible” for doing so. Duvall also states that former PresidentTrump believes that the state restrictions on abortion are a beautiful thing to watch. Then she says, “What is so beautiful about telling a 12-year-old girl that she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her?”

Her speech ends with a message to the Democratic Party: “The stakes of this election could not be higher for our choices. When I walk into the voting booth on Nov. 5, I will vote for the girls of America who deserve those choices.”

Duvall’s story is heartbreaking. To be a victim of abuse, year after year, at such a young age, by a man who lived in her home and had the responsibility of raising her is gut-wrenching. No one deserves to be treated in such a despicable way. She must be treated with compassion, and she must be viewed as a daughter of God whose dignity was violated.

I have spent time prayerfully reflecting on how a Catholic ought to respond to her story. And I have spent time praying for her. I don’t write to dismiss her or demean her. I write simply because Jesus Christ is God, and his truth is always compassion and love.

Abortion in the case of rape and incest has been a confusing and fraught topic for American Catholics for quite some time. But the Church shows us how to respond to her difficult story and circumstances.

Abortion, as the Church teaches, is the direct killing (through a medical procedure or oral abortifacient) of an unborn child. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2271) says that “every procured abortion” is a “moral evil” and “gravely contrary to the moral law.”

These facts stand, no matter the circumstances of any pregnancy. Unfortunately, Catholics are not in unison on this side of objective truth.

The takeaway is clear: A consistent and intimate connection to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, as so beautifully witnessed this past week and weekend at the National Eucharistic Congress, and a commitment to worshipping him alone, leads one to cherish all life, as our faith upholds. Without the lens of faith, the sufferings of life appear as dead ends. To one who knows Christ, there is no pain or hurt that he can’t overcome and work through.

It is certainly not beautiful for any person to be raped or taken advantage of like Duvall was. We need to protect innocent girls like her. It is beautiful for mothers to protect and cherish their babies. All children, including the children of sexual violence, are beautiful.

This pro-abortion ad ought to bring the beauty of life more into focus, especially for Catholics. It should also embolden us to learn why even this argument for the murder of babies in the womb is flawed.

As Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk of The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia has explained:

Playing the emotional card has been hugely successful in the public arena, reminding us of the urgent need for a more level-headed and dispassionate discussion of the real goods that are at stake. By respecting the life of the vulnerable and innocent child, we steer clear of the grave error in reasoning that tries to suggest that evil can justify further evil. Instead, the victims of sexual assault, both mother and child, deserve our unconditional love, acceptance, and support, rather than short-circuiting their challenging situation in favor of easy and inauthentic ‘solutions.’

For Duvall, we should pray for healing and peace. For Catholics, we should pray for a greater awareness of the need for the Eucharist and a more intense love for all life. For our country, we pray that we can be a nation that comes together to protect the first right of any person: the right to life (no matter the circumstances).