During a press conference last month, County Councilmember Dawn Luedtke shared a very personal story: her birth mother was raped at the age of 15 and Luedtke was born.
Now, the councilmember wants to share her story to advocate for reproductive choice. MCM sat down with her to hear more.
In the spring of 1973, her biological mother was raped by a truck driver and left on the side of a road in Virginia. Luedtke was adopted one day before the one-year anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
She was born after Roe v. Wade, but wants to make it clear — her biological mother was not given a choice: “She was told what was going to happen to her.”
When Luedtke was 18, she met her biological mother. She appreciates her birth mother being in her life and that her adoptive parents and her children have gotten to know her — “my kids just think she’s a bonus grandmother.”
The county council held a press conference last month after members voted unanimously to affirm the county’s commitment to reproductive rights and to also support a November ballot question that would protect reproductive freedom in the state constitution. It was during that event that Luedtke shared this story.
It was not the first time she had ever spoken about it, she told MCM, but it was the first time in front of a camera.
Luedtke told MCM that her biological mother is proud that she is using her voice: “What she wants me to always advocate for, is again, women need to have choices about their reproductive health, their bodies. Victims of rape and sexual assault should not be made to feel guilty about what happened to them. So, that’s something that I’ve taken very seriously to heart in all that I do.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, you can contact the Department of Health and Human Services Victim Assistance and Sexual Assault Program.
