‘A delicate issue’: Cameron addresses rape survivor from Beshear abortion ad during forum
Republican nominee for Kentucky governor Attorney General Daniel Cameron continues to face questions about his position on exceptions to Kentucky’s abortion ban, most recently in a live, televised candidate forum Tuesday night.
With just five weeks until Kentuckians choose between Cameron and Gov. Andy Beshear, reproductive health care dominates not only the news cycle, but the airwaves, too, as the Democratic incumbent runs ads slamming the attorney general’s track record on the issue.
Spectrum News 1 invited Cameron and Beshear to debate live, but only Cameron accepted. In Beshear’s absence, Cameron chatted with Spectrum News 1 anchor Mario Anderson for about 30 minutes on a range of issues, with a back-and-forth on abortion leading off the discussion.
“Let me step back, and I know a lot of this has originated because Andy Beshear has put on an ad on television,” Cameron said. “And look, if you have seen the ad, there’s a young lady that is sharing her story, and I appreciate (that). I know she was sharing that story with me in this statewide ad, and I appreciate her sharing it with me.”
In the ad referenced by Cameron, released nearly two weeks prior, a young woman from Owensboro named Hadley describes being raped by her stepfather at age 12.
“This is to you, Daniel Cameron: to tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather, who raped her, is unthinkable,” Hadley says directly to the camera. “I’m speaking out because women and girls need to have options. Daniel Cameron would give us none.”
As attorney general, Cameron’s office has defended Kentucky’s existing abortion ban in court, and as a candidate in the Republican primary, he said he would was “not going to waver in my position on this.”
As the law stands now, abortion is illegal in almost all cases in Kentucky, except to save the life of the pregnant person. There are not exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal abnormalities.
Two weeks ago, Cameron made a significant departure from that staunch position when appearing on a talk radio program, saying there’s “no question” he would sign legislation adding exceptions for rape and incest.
Since then, Cameron has been pressed on the issue in the media and at campaign stops. Beshear has categorized Cameron’s comments as craven, saying “desperate people will say anything.”
Speaking Tuesday night, Cameron said he “cannot comprehend just how traumatic that experience was (for Hadley). And my heart goes out to her. And I want her to know that.
“But when it comes to the issue of life, look, this is a delicate issue,” he continued.
“I was at church a couple of weeks ago, and our pastor talked about on this issue in particular, we need to speak gently and kindly because it is such a sensitive issue and there are a range of different viewpoints on the question of life. Mine happens to evolve from my position on faith and my relationship with Christ, and I think as a person of faith, I have a responsibility to protect the unborn.”
Cameron went on to say that if “someone harms a child, if someone sexually assaults a child, and then we need to put them under the jail.
“And as the Attorney General and as the next governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I’m going to make that abundantly clear, that we won’t tolerate adults who take advantage of and abuse our minors.”
In the conversation with Anderson, Cameron again affirmed twice that he supports the “Human Life Protection Act” — Kentucky’s trigger ban — and that “if something were to happen, and the law was required to be changed, and we had to have additional exceptions, I would certainly sign those exceptions and I’ve made that abundantly clear.”
Anderson asked Cameron what he’d say to people who believe he may have flip-flopped on his stance on abortion. Cameron responded by saying he’s the “pro-life candidate in this race.”
Anderson again asked Cameron if he would “support the exceptions if rape and incest were included?”
“Well, look, if that came, but I just want to make it abundantly clear I’m the pro-life candidate in this race,” Cameron repeated.
Cameron went on to claim, as he has previously done, that Beshear “wants no limits on abortions.”
Beshear has previously responded to such claims by saying he opposes late-term abortion and has said Roe vs. Wade, which allowed abortions to take place up until viability which occurs late in the second trimester of pregnancy, got it “generally right.”
There are five debates in the weeks ahead in which both candidates will participate, according to their campaigns.
