A campaign ad telling Ohio voters not to elect Amy Acton features her estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who lost custody after her husband was charged with sexually abusing Acton as a child. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign has confirmed it made the video.

In the video, Arthur says her daughter was 'a serious problem' and urges voters not to elect her. She calls Acton 'a liar' who lies about her past.

Court records provided by Acton's campaign show that her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged in 1978 with raping her when she was 12. He pleaded not guilty.

Acton's campaign and her brother, Philip Stearns, denounced the ad as a 'despicable low'. Stearns said it turned the abuse Acton endured at 12 into a political talking point, and that their mother stayed married to the stepfather until his death.

Ramaswamy Defends Ad

Ramaswamy said: 'It is an ad from our campaign.' He argued that the people who know Acton best were telling voters to back him instead.

Mere seconds after Ramaswamy took the stage in Columbus, an attendee began yelling at him over the ad. The protester shouted about Acton's accounts of being molested and raped as a child, and police escorted him out.

Spokesperson Connie Luck said the team did not know what happened between Acton and her mother. Luck noted that Acton's mother first spoke out about her in 2020.

The video carries no disclosure of who paid for and authorised it, which is mandatory. It circulated widely on social media and had not aired on TV or cable.

The Case Behind the Attack

Cledith Arthur left Ohio on bond, and warrants were issued for his arrest at least twice, according to court records. He died in 2004.

Acton has said she was removed from her mother's custody at 12 because of abuse and neglect. Life became more stable once she and her brother went to live with their father.

Acton recalled going to kiss her mother in the courthouse after the charges and being turned away. That court date remains the last time she saw her mother.

Health Toll of Child Abuse

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says child sexual abuse can affect how a person thinks, acts and feels over a lifetime. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are among the mental health consequences.

Substance misuse, including opioid misuse, and a higher risk of suicide or suicide attempts are also linked to the abuse. Physical effects include injuries, sexually transmitted infections and later chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity and cancer.

At least one in four girls and one in 20 boys in the US experience child sexual abuse. About 90 per cent of cases involve someone the child or family knows and trusts, and many children wait to report it or never do.

Adults are responsible for giving children safe, stable, nurturing relationships. Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina urges people to support victims and report suspected abuse.

What Research Shows

A review of research on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse found it is an important problem with serious consequences. It linked greater harm to abuse involving a father or stepfather, longer duration, and the use of force or threats.

Adult women abused in childhood showed more depression and were more likely than non-abused women to be revictimised. Anxiety, fear and suicidal thoughts were also linked to such abuse, though force or threats may be a necessary factor.

A separate study sent questionnaires to 1,500 nurses. Fifty-four women who were sexually abused as children responded and were matched with 54 women who were not.

The abused group reported more symptoms of distress on the Global Severity Index and on seven of nine subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory. The gap held after accounting for parental emotional support.

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