She became a familiar face during the governor's race last year.

Hadley Duvall, who appeared in political ads supporting Governor Andy Beshear, is an outspoken critic of Kentucky's anti-abortion laws and lack of exceptions for rape and incest.

Duvall, who was a victim of sexual abuse herself, is pushing a bill that would create those exceptions.

Our June Leffler was at today's press conference announcing the filing of a bill that bears Hadley's name.

That begins tonight's legislative update.

I've told my story before in interviews and ads.

I was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse.

I was 12.

Duvall had a miscarriage, but she's glad abortion was an option at that time.

It took me a while to find my voice, but now that I have, I intend to keep using it to speak out for other girls and women who need it.

Her name is being used for a new bill that would allow people to get abortions in certain tough circumstances.

This bill will provide exceptions for survivors of rape and incest like me.

It will give relief to women who are facing non-viable pregnancies or women facing health complications with their pregnancies.

This bill is about compassion and empathy.

I'm here with a clear message to say that unless you've been in this position, you have no idea what any woman or girl is currently going through.

The governor supports the bill.

State Senator David Yates introduced the bill today.

While serving as a former assistant attorney general.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky.

I had the honor and privilege of representing so many victims of sex crimes.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky should not remove that choice.

They should not continue to victimize those survivors.

I'm still fighting for you.

Yates never supported the abortion ban, but he hopes Republicans can sign off on these changes.

This is so narrowly tailored that most of those conversations I've had, I usually get a head nod and say, I understand.

I agree.

If they would take that, yes, I understand.

I agree and vote that way.

This thing will.

Pass.

But some abortion advocates aren't impressed.

Hadley is incredibly brave to share her testimony and while I would love a bill like this to actually work in practice, what we've seen around the country since Roe v Wade has fallen back on states that have exemptions.

The exemptions don't work.

They create confusion and more hurdles for patients to jump through because they believe they have access to care.

But unfortunately, most patients have to still leave the state when they find themselves in these situations.

That statement is backed by research.

A Kaiser Family Foundation report looked at 14 states and said, quote, Exceptions to bans have often proven to be unworkable, except in the most extreme circumstances and have sometimes prevented physicians from practicing evidence based medicine.

There is so much liability and fear.

There's a mass chilling effect that has gone throughout the country.

Rape and incest survivors would also need a doctor to sign off on the procedure.

And I don't want anyone to look at it and say somehow about Palin, this piece of legislation did.

Somehow you have fixed all the problems that have been with the abortion ban.

I don't believe that we will.

I believe this is a very small step in the right direction for a very limited number of victims that we can help.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.

Thank you, June.

The anti-abortion group Kentucky Right to Life opposes the bill.

The group's executive director, Adia Wisner, said that while rape is a terrible trauma for anyone to bear, quote The life of a child is not dependent on how they were conceived, end quote.

Last night on Kentucky tonight, four top leaders of the Kentucky General Assembly discussed the proposal for Hadley's law and Kentucky's abortion laws.

Here's part of that conversation.

Government, a state government should not be directing a woman how she controls her body and her health choices with respect to that.

Now, I know it's a complex issue, but I don't think the state should be doing that sort of thing.

I think that's between a woman, her doctor, and her God.

So, you know, when the state comes in and begins to mandate how an individual is to handle their choices in life as it relates to their health, as it relates to those things that are personal to them, I think we overreach.

And that's my fundamental concern with all of that.

We know that there will be trauma where there is an act of incest or rape.

That's tough.

That's where it gets a hard decision when you then have a woman.

And I don't think anybody would disagree with this.

The wraparound services for this woman, what ever her decision is, we should make sure she has.

And anybody who perpetrates that type of act on a woman should be swiftly punished and harshly punished.

But it's really tough when you get to that viability of a child.

At what point versus that balance of a woman who is not even in a rape or incest scenario didn't even gets tougher.

When you have that.

Do you understand?

And again, understand you're talking to four males here.

We can't comprehend.

We can only empathize.

But that becomes a very difficult choice for Republicans and Democrats in either chamber.

And so there is a lot of discussion.

I do not know what the outcome will be.

So last night, we also discussed Senator Whitney Westerfield's proposed alpha law, which asks for more than $550 million to support child care, adoption, housing, child health care assistance and other pro-family programs.

We'll have more on that tomorrow on Kentucky Edition.

And you can see all of last night's Kentucky Tonight online on demand.

Ted Dorgan, slash, why tonight?