At the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris is honored as the Democratic nominee for 2024. While there was much admiration for the Harris-Walz campaign, the first night of the convention was also an emotional reminder of what is at stake in November.

On Monday, amid speeches from celebrities and some of the biggest names in Democratic politics, four ordinary Americans took the stage to talk about how repealing the Roe v. Wade – and the multitude of state abortion restrictions that were subsequently introduced – have affected their lives.

Perhaps the most harrowing testimony of the evening came from Hadley Duvall, a young Kentucky woman who became pregnant and miscarried at age 12 after being sexually abused by her stepfather. Duvall, now 21, shared her story for the first time on Facebook in 2022, after the death of Roe.

“I took my first pregnancy test when I was 12 years old and it was positive,” Duvall told the DNC audience. “That was the first time I was told, ‘You have options.’ I can’t imagine not having a choice, but today, because of Trump’s abortion bans, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country.”

“He calls it a beautiful thing,” Duvall said of Trump’s boasting about his role in repealing Roe. “What’s so wonderful about a child having to carry his parents’ child?”

Vice President Harris will “fight for every woman and girl, even those who are not fighting for them now,” Duvall added.

After her testimony, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who told Duvall’s story in a 2023 commercial, called her “one of the bravest people I’ve ever met.”

“I am amazed at the courage it takes to share their pain and speak their truth,” he said.

Beshear used Duvall’s testimony as a jumping-off point to discuss the ongoing threat Republicans pose to women’s reproductive freedom.

“Trump and Vance just don’t believe in your freedom,” he said. “Trump says people are absolutely thrilled that women have been stripped of their basic rights. JD Vance says women should stay in abusive marriages and pregnancies resulting from rape are ‘just impractical.'”

“Your policies give rapists more rights than their victims. That’s not inconvenient, it’s just wrong,” Beshear added. “All women should have the freedom to make their own decisions, the freedom over their own bodies, the freedom to choose whether to have IVF, the freedom to choose whether to have children at all. How we treat people transcends party lines, it touches us at our core.”

In addition to Duvall, Kaitlyn Joshua, a woman from Louisiana, recalled suffering miscarriages early in her second pregnancy and several hospitals refusing to treat her. “Two emergency rooms turned me away,” Joshua said. “Because of the abortion ban in Louisiana, no one would confirm that I had miscarried. I was in pain and bleeding so much that my husband feared for my life.”

Amanda and Josh Zurawski also spoke about the loss of their daughter Willow, a long-awaited child who they were told “with 100 percent certainty” would not be viable at birth.

The Zurawskis lived in Texas – a state that banned abortion unless the mother’s life was in danger and enacted a “bounty law” against doctors who performed abortions. “We waited until Amanda was sick enough to receive standard abortion care,” Josh told the audience. “At one point, Amanda’s temperature rose, she was shaking, disoriented and collapsed. I don’t remember what I threw in our (hospital) bag that day. Only that instead of welcoming Willow, I hoped Amanda’s life could be saved.”

Amanda Zurwaski sued Texas over its restrictions on abortion care. She was part of a coalition of women whose lives were put in danger because they were denied care for their nonviable pregnancies. The case was dismissed by the state Supreme Court in May. Abortions in Texas remain illegal, with vague exceptions for the life of the mother.

“I was lucky. I survived,” Amanda said. “Today, because of Donald Trump, more than one in three women of childbearing age in America live under an abortion ban. A second Trump term would take away even more of our rights.”