During his gubernatorial campaign, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson sparked controversy by comparing supporters of reproductive rights and defenders of slavery, labelling mass killings in America as karmic retribution for the "murder of infants" and a case of "chickens coming home to roost."
Robinson noted that he has been warned, as a political candidate, "not to say that abortion is murder." However, he insists there's no other way to describe it, affirming, "Abortion is murder." According to a Rolling Stone review, the Republican gubernatorial candidate's public statements and posts on social media platforms confirm that he has referred to abortion as murder several times.
Robinson's Controversial Stance On Abortion
Robinson has a reputation for expressing extreme opinions on various issues, but his stance on abortion has sparked considerable controversy in his latest statewide campaign. His Democratic opponent has aired ads cramming as many of Robinson's anti-abortion sound bites as possible into a 30-second slot.
"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."
In a separate clip, 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."
Interestingly, Robinson, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in North Carolina—a key presidential battleground state in November—has now adopted a new strategy involving leveraging his wife's abortion.
"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 prohibits abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, "life-limiting" fetal anomalies, and medical emergencies. Such laws have faced significant global opposition.
For instance, in 2023, the UK faced backlash when a court sentenced a woman to 28 months in prison for terminating her pregnancy after the legal ten-week limit had elapsed. This occurred when the Good Law Project informed reporters about a surge of "shadowy" funds—donations from anonymous sources—being directed toward anti-abortion groups in the UK.
Robinson has previously minimized the importance of exceptions to abortion restrictions. In a 2021 speech at the North Carolina Republican Party convention, captured in a video obtained by Rolling Stone, Robinson stated, "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."
Robinson's Unyielding Position On Abortion Exceptions
He observes that abortion opponents are often questioned about their stance on cases of rape or incest and likens the debate to 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."
"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," he added.
"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."
"I have not changed my view about abortion, but I've changed my approach to it," Robinson said in a recently concluded radio interview.
Robinson stated that if he is perceived as someone standing on a stage, pointing down at a young woman and telling her she can't have an abortion, that's not the right approach. Instead, he believes the right approach is to come down off the stage, embrace the young woman, explain why he thinks she should choose life, and then ultimately leave the decision to her based on the laws in place.
He emphasized that this is why he agreed to the commercial, as he views this as 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," he added.
Speaking at an earlier event, Robinson dubbed abortion as "murder" and described it as "an affront to the Almighty" and "a scourge on humanity."
