Source: Greensboro News & Record Editorial
North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson, recently made headlines when a resurfaced Facebook comment revealed that he paid for an abortion in 1989. Mark Robinson is a prolific pro-lifer; last June, Robinson delivered a speech at the 2021 NCGOP Republican convention in which he said that abortion is not justified under any circumstances, even in cases of sexual assault or incest.
Robinson and his wife released a video addressing the revelations. “Before we were married and before we had kids. We had an abortion,” Robinson said in the video. “It was the hardest decision we have ever made and sadly, we made the wrong one.”
The News & Record Editorial Board wrote, “Robinson would also be wise to acknowledge that not every woman who has an abortion feels the sense of regret that he does. According to a study published in the academic journal Social Science & Medicine in 2020, 95% of nearly 700 women surveyed over the course of a five-year period indicated that their abortion was the right decision. The emotion most experienced by the survey’s participants was relief.”
In a time where there are more and more extreme attacks on reproductive rights, the News & Record Editorial Board wrote that, “any person facing this decision should be met with empathy, compassion, and understanding rather than the heartless, criminalizing approach that’s been adopted by many Republican legislators today.”
Several measures being considered in states across the country would ban abortion without exception. In Missouri, a bill is being considered that would imprison doctors who perform abortions for ectopic pregnancies – which are pregnancies that are unviable under any circumstances, and threaten the life of the mother if the fetus isn’t removed. There’s even a bill proposed in Texas by Republican Rep. Bryan Slaton, that would allow women who received an abortion to be charged with assault or homicide, which, in Texas, is punishable with the death penalty.
The News & Record Editorial Board wrote: “We doubt Robinson will become an ardent pro-choice advocate. But he should certainly have enough humility, enough understanding, to question whether he, or anyone else, should be making these decisions for women. So should we all.”
Read more from the Greensboro News & Record Editorial Board here
