North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) called mass killings in America karma for the “murder of infants” — and “chickens coming home to roost.” He compared supporters of reproductive rights to people who fought to preserve slavery. Robinson noted that he’s been advised, as a candidate for office, “not to say that abortion is murder. What else am I supposed to call it? Abortion is murder.”
A Rolling Stone review of the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s public comments and social media posts reveal he has called abortion murder dozens of times. While Robinson has expressed radical views on a range of topics, his views on abortion have drawn significant controversy in his latest statewide bid. His Democratic opponent has run ads packing as many anti-abortion sound bites from Robinson as will fit in a 30-second spot.
“Let’s say I was the governor, I had a willing legislature, we could pass a bill saying you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason,” he says in one clip. In another, Robinson says, “For me there is no compromise on abortion, it makes no difference to me why or how that child ended up in that womb.” Elsewhere, he says: “Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. It’s about killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”
Now the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina, a top presidential battleground state in November, is trying something else: campaigning on his wife’s abortion. It’s not the first time Robinson and his wife have publicly discussed the matter, but his campaign released a direct-to-camera ad in which they share their experience. In the commercial, he casts his opposition to abortion as personal, and attempts to reframe his many of his past comments on the issue.
“Thirty years ago, my wife and I made a very difficult decision. We had an abortion. It was like this solid pain between us that we never spoke of,” Robinson says in a recent ad. “It’s something that stays with you forever,” his wife says. Robinson adds: “That’s why I stand by our current law, and it provides common sense exceptions for life of the mother, incest, and rape… When I’m governor, mothers in need will be supported.”
North Carolina bans abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions in cases of rape, incest, “life-limiting” fetal anomalies, and medical emergencies.
Robinson has previously downplayed the need for exceptions to abortion restrictions. In a 2021 speech at the North Carolina Republican Party convention, according to a video obtained by Rolling Stone, Robinson says, “There’s some things I’m not going to capitulate on at all, not ever, and one of those things is when it comes to the unborn.” He notes that people always ask abortion opponents what they would do about cases of rape or incest, and says the argument reminds him of one about seatbelts.
“I can remember this as a young man, when we were arguing about whether or not we should be required to wear seat belts, or if we should wear seat belts,” Robinson continues. “And I can always remember there’d be one person to say, ‘Well, what if I get stuck on a railroad tracks and my seat belt won’t come off?’ Number one, if you are stuck on the train tracks, that is Darwin. That’s not any of my concern. That is Darwin. You saw those train tracks. If you couldn’t get past them, I cannot help you.”
He concludes: “That is not a good argument, see, because in this country, we’re not talking about a bunch of people who go down to the abortion place because they’ve been raped or because they’ve been a victim of incest. We’re talking about a culture that we have created in this society that tells you when you want to feel good, go in there and go lay down and do your thing. If you get in a little trouble, it’s alright to murder somebody to get out of it. It is not — it is not okay.”
A Robinson spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a radio interview on Thursday, Robinson said that “I have not changed my view about abortion, but I’ve changed my approach to it.”
He said that “if I’m a person who is seen as an individual who’s standing on a stage pointing down at a young woman saying, ‘You can’t have an abortion,’ that is not the right approach.” Instead, he said, “The right approach is to come down off the stage, embrace that young woman, and tell them about the reasons why I believe she should choose life, and then ultimately leaving it up to her based on the laws that we have on the books. That’s the reason why we put that commercial out, and the reason why I was willing to do it. Because we feel like that this is an issue of the heart. And if we’re going to ‘win on this issue,’ we’re going to win people over on this issue, we’ve got to show people that we care. Because we’ve got to show them how deeply it affects people.”
Robinson has previously acknowledged that his wife had an abortion. In a 2022 video, he said that his family is “adamantly pro-life” based on the experience: “We know what it’s like to be in that situation, and we know the pain that an abortion causes. For everyone that has had this experience and carries that burden, we want you to know you are not alone. Furthermore, we have a savior who forgives us of our sins and offers us grace. No one is perfect, but no one is too far gone to be saved.”
A few weeks earlier, Robinson spoke at an event and repeatedly called abortion murder — characterizing it as “an affront to the Almighty” and “a scourge on humanity,” according to a recording reviewed by Rolling Stone.
In a recording from an event last October — during his campaign for governor — Robinson said that people are “murdering human beings in the womb, hand over fist,” arguing they care more about protecting animals like manatees and kangaroo rats.
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