The Political Exploitation of a Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Is an Absolute Disgrace.

 

There are two things in life that no one can ever take from us: our integrity and our character. They define who we are. It is easy to do what is right when people are watching. It is much more difficult when doing so might cost us something.

As leaders, do we use our power to better the lives of others, or do we use it for our own personal gain? Do we lead by example, or have we become examples of moral bankruptcy? These are questions we must ask ourselves when we stand alone, looking in the mirror.

Today, I am asking those questions of Vivek Ramaswamy and Vice President JD Vance.

Ramaswamy's campaign for Ohio governor has produced an advertisement featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, publicly attacking her daughter's credibility.

What makes this particularly reprehensible is that Acton has described being sexually abused by her stepfather as a child. Court records document that he was charged with raping her. She and her brother were subsequently removed from their mother's custody.

Nearly fifty years later, Ramaswamy's campaign has reportedly committed $4 million to promoting an advertisement that exploits this painful family history. And Vice President Vance has defended it.

Four million dollars to weaponize a woman's childhood trauma for political gain.

What in God's name has happened to our sense of decency?

I am not writing this as a Republican or a Democrat. I am writing as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and a retired Seattle Police detective who spent more than twenty-six years investigating sexual assault and child sexual abuse.

I also spent three years leading INTERPOL's Crimes Against Children unit, working with law enforcement around the world to identify and rescue sexually abused children.

I have interviewed children who were terrified to disclose their abuse. I have watched families turn against victims, parents protect offenders, and institutions protect reputations rather than children. I know the lifelong damage this betrayal can cause.

A child is NEVER responsible for the sexual abuse inflicted upon them. NEVER.

One of the cruelest betrayals occurs when the very adults responsible for protecting a child refuse to believe them or choose loyalty to an accused offender over the child's safety.

A parent's denial does not prove that a child is lying. Yet here we have a political campaign using an estranged mother's accusations to attack a woman who survived childhood abuse.

What message does that send to children who are afraid to disclose their own abuse?

That nobody will believe them? That their families may turn against them? That decades later, their childhood trauma can still be used to publicly humiliate them?

For years, we have trained police officers, prosecutors, educators, and child protection professionals to recognize abuse, understand trauma, and avoid victim-blaming. And now we have powerful political figures demonstrating exactly the opposite behavior before the entire country.

The hypocrisy is staggering.

When I became the first law enforcement officer in the world to receive the International Jurists Award in 2014, it was an extraordinary honor. But it never defined me. It was simply a reflection of my life's passion to use my own experience as a sexually abused child to protect others.

I have always believed that character is a choice.

I have also always made it a point to vote for the person, not their political affiliation. I do not care whether someone is a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. I care whether that person possesses the integrity, compassion, and character necessary to lead honorably.

Vivek Ramaswamy has every right to challenge Amy Acton's policies, qualifications, and public record. But exploiting the circumstances of her childhood sexual abuse crosses a moral line that no decent human being should be willing to cross.

And Vice President Vance should understand that political loyalty does not absolve anyone of moral responsibility. We have lost our way as a country when winning an election becomes more important than protecting the dignity of another human being.

To Amy Acton, I say this: You were a child. You deserved protection. You deserved compassion. Your childhood trauma is not a political liability, and your survival is nothing to apologize for.

To Vivek Ramaswamy and JD Vance, I say this:

There is no political victory worth the deliberate humiliation of a child sexual abuse survivor. Our children are watching. Survivors are watching. And so are those who have yet to find the courage to disclose their abuse.

We should be teaching them that speaking up takes courage, that their experiences matter, and that the adults around them will stand up for them.

Instead, we are showing them how easily their suffering can become someone else's political weapon. And this is happening in a country where too many children are not safe in their own schools, where sexual assault remains a serious problem on college campuses, and where institutions entrusted with protecting children have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements arising from sexual abuse and institutional failures. We have watched institutions protect their reputations, their finances, and their leadership while victims were left to carry the consequences for the rest of their lives.

We continue to treat women as second-class citizens, questioning their credibility, minimizing their experiences, and subjecting them to public humiliation when they dare to speak about the abuse they have endured. We tell our daughters to be strong, to speak up, and to refuse to remain silent. Yet when they do, we too often respond by questioning their character instead of examining the conduct of those who harmed them.

What does it say about our society when we spend decades encouraging victims to come forward, only to watch powerful people turn a woman's childhood trauma into a political weapon? How can we expect our children to trust us to protect them when we cannot even agree that exploiting a survivor's suffering is wrong?

Character is a choice. So is cruelty. So is silence.

America deserves leaders who understand the difference between winning an election and being worthy of the office they seek.

Robert Shilling
Retired Seattle Police Detective | Former Head of Crimes Against Children, INTERPOL | Child Sexual Abuse Survivor | Author, Trauma-Informed Policing