Abortion rights advocate Hadley Duvall endorses Jacqueline Coleman for KY governor
Abortion rights advocate Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky native who took to a national stage in recent years, has endorsed Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman in Kentucky’s 2027 gubernatorial race.
Duvall gained national prominence after she was featured in a 2023 reelection ad for Gov. Andy Beshear. She said in a statement on June 24 that Coleman is “the leader Kentucky needs to protect fundamental freedoms, medical autonomy and support working families.”
Duvall’s perseverance after being raped and impregnated at age 12 by her stepfather transformed her into a national advocate for restoring abortion access. While Duvall miscarried, she has said that she would have chosen to get an abortion, calling the alternative of carrying the pregnancy to term “unthinkable.”
Duvall was featured in an abortion rights ad for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris in their 2024 reelection bid. She also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Harris after Biden dropped out of the race.
“As someone who has been open about her own health journey, (Coleman) understands firsthand the challenges many Kentucky families face,” Duvall said. “She has championed women and families since day one, with the courage to stand up for what’s right, the compassion to listen, and the vision to move Kentucky forward.”
Coleman said in a statement she is “deeply honored” to earn Duvall’s endorsement. During Coleman’s campaign launch, she said her platform would focus on access and autonomy in healthcare decisions.
“Hadley Duvall represents the very best of Kentucky — brave, resilient and dedicated to turning personal hardship into a powerful voice for change,” Coleman said. “Her advocacy has changed our Commonwealth for the better by bringing compassion to a complex issue.”
In the upcoming Democratic gubernatorial primary, abortion is expected to be a hot-button topic.
For Coleman, her position on abortion access has shifted over her political career. She once had declared herself a “pro-life” Democrat in 2014 at a Mercer County candidate forum during her unsuccessful run for a state House seat. Five years later, when she was chosen as Beshear’s running mate in the 2019 gubernatorial race, she said she supported “each individual woman’s constitutional right to make her own reproductive and health care decisions.”
In an interview with the Herald-Leader following her gubernatorial launch, Coleman said she found a new sense of empathy after the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, eliminated the U.S.’ decades-old constitutional right to an abortion.
“People are now recognizing, I think, that (Roe v. Wade) had it right,” Coleman said in April. “Roe was a reasonable allowance and restriction point and I think that’s where Kentuckians and as well as Americans want to get back to.”
In July 2022, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Kentucky outlawed abortion under a trigger law and six-week ban, or fetal heartbeat law. The only exceptions were for medical emergencies threatening a pregnant woman’s life. During the 2025 session, lawmakers passed a bill broadening medical exceptions after doctors demanded greater flexibility in treating patients with severe pregnancy complications.
The bill expanded and clarified current statutory language giving doctors more leeway in when they can choose to provide a “medically-necessary” abortion and clarified that doctors who make these decisions would not be subject to a criminal penalty.
While Coleman is the only one who has launched a gubernatorial campaign, Rocky Adkins, currently a senior adviser to Beshear, is also leaving the door open for a potential gubernatorial run.
In a previous statement from April, Adkins said he is “thinking carefully about what comes next and what’s best for Kentucky and will have more to say when the time is right.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Adkins ran for governor.
When Adkins ran in the 2019 Democratic gubernatorial primary, he stumbled over questions during debates surrounding abortion compared to his two main competitors at the time, which were then-Attorney General Beshear and former State Auditor Adam Edelen.
Adkins had a clear anti-abortion record during his tenure as a state representative for House District 99, which came under scrutiny during the 2019 gubernatorial election cycle. When asked whether he would sign a bill banning abortion if the Supreme Court reverses itself, Adkins said he would have to seek advice from his future general counsel even though he had already voted for such a bill.
That bill was House Bill 148 from 2019, which set language banning abortion in Kentucky if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its ruling that states can’t prohibit abortion.
During the 2019 legislative session, the General Assembly had focused heavily on limiting abortion rights, with four anti-abortion bills passing in the 30-workday session. Adkins voted for all but one of the bills, which was one that would prevent women from getting an abortion because they didn’t like the race, gender or disability of their unborn child.
“I am pro-life, my record would indicate that,” Adkins said on the House floor in February 2019. “My stance on pro-life goes a little further. I think we ought to take care of these babies after they’re born. A roof over their head, a quality education and hopefully a quality job.”
