The Democratic group has released new audio from North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinsonwho is running for governor, saying he wants to bring abortion restrictions down to “zero” weeks.
in AudioThe group said that at a Robinson campaign event in Troy, NC, recorded Sept. 3, a woman asked Robinson about his stance on abortion and why he supports North Carolina. Current 12-week ban On process.
Robinson responded by saying, “That 12 weeks, exceptions for rape and adultery … I wouldn’t say that’s fair. But my faith allows me to live with it, because that is the consensus. Do I want to continue reducing it? You know it better. I would love to come down to six weeks. And I want to get down to zero. I want to roll it back as far as possible and eliminate as many abortions as possible.
“We can’t do it all at once,” he added. “Democrats used Roe v. Started with Wade, then moved on to ‘safe, legal and rare’. Then where did they go? Nine months in the womb. They did it for 50 years. … and we can do it.
The recording, which was shared with NBC News, was released by the Mark Robinson War Room, a project of the North Carolina Democratic Leadership Committee, which is endorsed by the Democratic Governors Association. The group said it was “founded for the sole purpose of holding Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson accountable for his toxic record and dangerous agenda for North Carolina.” Robinson is running against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
Publicly, Robinson stands behind allowing the current restrictions in North Carolina. The lieutenant governor accepted A TV ad earlier this year that his wife had an abortion 30 years ago and supported current abortion restrictions in North Carolina, which limit the procedure to 12 weeks after pregnancy with exceptions for rape, adultery or the life of the mother.
But Robinson is advocating measures that go further. He made it Similar comments At a campaign event in February, “We got it down to 12 weeks, the next goal is to get it down to six, and then just go from there,” referring to abortion, a local Fox News affiliate reported. .
In the audio shared with NBC News, Robinson also told the woman that he “hasn’t changed his stance on abortion at all” and that “there’s no reason abortion should ever happen.”
“I’m 100% pro-life, and I think it should be. If I am a pastor in the pulpit, that is what I am preaching. If I am counseling someone, a young woman, a couple, I tell them. I tell them, ‘Choose life for your child,’” he added.
Robinson then explained that he is not a pastor, and as an elected official he needs to work with consensus.
“Now a lot of people say, ‘Well, it’s changing your position. It’s giving up your conviction.’ Not so,” Robinson said. “You have to be an elected official. You have to be mature enough in your faith to see people doing things that you disagree with and allow them to do that because we don’t live in a theocracy. If we have politicians who start running the country like they run their churches, we will end up like Iran. This is not how this country was created.”
Stein has been an outspoken supporter of abortion rights and has vowed to defend access to the procedure.
When asked about comments Robinson made about taking abortions to “zero,” Mike Lonergan, Robinson’s campaign communications director, sent a written statement.
“Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is pro-life because of the painful and difficult experience he and his wife had, and because of his faith,” Lonergan said in the statement. “By supporting taxpayer-funded, late-term abortion on demand, Kamala Harris and Josh Stein is extreme and out of step with North Carolina voters. They are using the same playbook that failed here in 2022 and will fail again in 2024.”
“The Legislature has already spoken to this issue,” Lonergan added. “As governor, Mark Robinson will work to make North Carolina a destination for life by building a culture that does more to support women and families, including promoting adoption, as well as foster and child care.”
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